Erling Braut Haaland completes clean sweep with European Player of the Season award

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 05 June 2023

Manchester City's Erling Braut Haaland completes a clean sweep of possible awards in the 2022-23 Sports Mole Readers' Awards by being named European Player of the Season.

Manchester City forward Erling Braut Haaland has completed a clean sweep of possible prizes in the annual Sports Mole Readers' Awards by being named the European Player of the Season.

The 22-year-old has scored 52 goals in 52 games during his debut campaign at the Etihad Stadium, and could still improve that tally when his side face Inter Milan in the Champions League final this Saturday.

Victory in that match would see Man City join Manchester United's class of 1998-99 as the only English teams to win the treble of league, FA Cup and Champions League, and Haaland has been instrumental in their success throughout the campaign.

An unprecedented haul of 36 Premier League goals in 35 games saw him break just about every major scoring record in the division, as well as claiming the FWA Footballer, Premier League Player and Premier League Young Player of the Season awards.

Our readers also voted him the best Premier League player, forward and signing of the season, and the European Player of the Season award means that he has now won all four categories he was nominated for in our end-of-season awards.

Haaland took 46.2% of the votes in the main category - his lowest percentage in any of the awards, but still comfortably clear of second-placed Victor Osimhen.

Osimhen led the charge as Napoli claimed their first Serie A title since the days of Diego Maradona, with his 31 goals across all competitions earning him 15.6% of the votes.

Haaland's Man City teammate Kevin De Bruyne completes the top three with 11.9%, while Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior (9.3%) and Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham (5.1%) round off the top five.

EUROPEAN PLAYER OF THE SEASON RESULTS

1. Erling Braut Haaland (Manchester City) - 46.2%
2. Victor Osimhen (Napoli) - 15.6%
3. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) - 11.9%
4. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) - 9.3%
5. Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund) - 5.1%
6. Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain) - 4.8%
7. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli) - 2%
= Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan) - 2%
9. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) - 1.7%
= Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) - 1.7%