What is a Player of the Year award?
Player of the Year is the annual honour naming the outstanding competitor in a sport, league, country, conference or college division over a season. It is a vote, not a result — conferred after the season by a body that watched all of it, and intended to reward a whole campaign rather than a single performance.[1] [2]
Who confers it?
Four kinds of body, and the difference between them is worth knowing: international federations (World Athlete of the Year, World Aquatics Swimmer of the Year), national governing bodies (a federation's own player or athlete of the year), coaches associations — the USTFCCCA, NABC, CSCAA, United Soccer Coaches and their peers — and established trade media, where the award may be older than the federation's own.[2] [3]
How is it selected?
Almost always by ballot: a nominating committee produces a shortlist, then coaches, member federations, media panels — and in several federation awards a public vote weighted alongside them — choose the winner. Selections are usually split by sex, and often further by position, division or discipline, so one season can produce several parallel Players of the Year in the same sport.[2] [4]
How does it differ from MVP?
Chiefly in who confers it and over what population. MVP is normally a league award covering that league's players; Player of the Year is more often conferred across a whole sport, country or division — which can make it the broader field of the two, even though the two awards frequently go to the same competitor.[1] [2]
Why does it matter?
Because it identifies one competitor per year out of an entire population — a conference, a country, a division, a world — chosen by the people who govern or cover the sport. That combination of a defined field and an expert electorate is what gives the honour its weight, and why federations and coaches associations publish the voting records alongside the result.[2] [3]
References
- USTFCCCA — Awards. Accessed August 2026.
- World Athletics — Awards. Accessed August 2026.
- CSCAA — Awards. Accessed August 2026.
- United Soccer Coaches — Awards. Accessed August 2026.