N'Golo Kante named Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year

N’Golo Kante in the first week of May 2017 voted the 2017 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association.

Kante topped the poll of the 340-strong membership ahead of his Blues team-mate Eden Hazard, with Tottenham’s Dele Alli in third place.

Kante and Hazard together collected more than 65 percent of the journalists’ votes, which were spread over a record number of 17 different players.

The 26-year-old Kante will receive the prestigious FWA accolade at a gala dinner in London on 18 May 2017.

About N’Golo Kante

• Born on 29 March 1991, N'Golo Kante is a French professional footballer.

• He plays as a central midfielder for English club Chelsea and the France national team.

• He made his senior debut at Boulogne and then spent two seasons at Caen, the latter in Ligue 1.

• In 2015, he joined Leicester City for a fee of £5.6 million and became an integral member of the club's first ever Premier League win in his only season at the club.

• In 2016, he joined Chelsea for a reported fee of £32 million and won the prestigious PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards in his first season with the club.

• He made his senior international debut for France in 2016.

About FWA Footballer of the Year

• The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in English football.

• The award has been presented since the 1947–48 season. Stanley Matthews was the first winner of the award.

• The winner is selected by a vote amongst the members of the Football Writers' Association.

• The award was instigated at the suggestion of Charles Buchan, a former professional footballer turned journalist and one of the Association's founders.