Cristiano Ronaldo wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo in August 2017 was named the 2016-17 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award.

Ronaldo surpassed Lionel Messi and Gianluigi Buffon to win the prestigious award.

Ronaldo picked up the trophy for the second consecutive season and third time in total, having also received the accolade in 2013-14.

On the other hand, Lieke Martens was named the 2016-17 UEFA Women's Player of the Year.

Other Awards:

Best Goalkeeper of the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League season: Gianluigi Buffon

Best Defender of the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League season: Sergio Ramos

Best Midfielder of the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League season: Luka Modrić

Best Forward of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League season: Cristiano Ronaldo

UEFA President's Award: Francesco Totti

About UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award

• The UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award is an association football award given to the footballer playing for a football club in Europe that is considered the best in the previous season.

• The award was created in 2011 by UEFA.

• The award is aimed at reviving the European Footballer of the Year Award (Ballon d'Or), which was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

• It also replaced the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.

• Cristiano Ronaldo is the first and the only player to win the award three times as well as twice in a row.

• Since its inception, the award has been won by Lionel Messi (2011, 2015), Andrés Iniesta (2012), Franck Ribéry (2013) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2014, 2016, 2017).