SFWA Footballer of the Year

The Scottish Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year (often called the SFWA Footballer of the Year, or simply the Scottish Footballer of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in Scottish football. The award has been presented since the 1964–65 season, and the winner is selected by a vote amongst the members of the Scottish Football Writers' Association (SFWA), which comprises over 100 football journalists based throughout Scotland. The first winner was Celtic's Billy McNeill, and the first non-Scottish winner was Mark Hateley of Rangers in 1994. Seven players have won the award on more than one occasion, and one, Craig Gordon, three times, winning his third award in the 2021–22 season.

The award was instigated in 1965, eight years after the association was founded, and committee member Allan Herron was charged with obtaining the permission of the Scottish Football Association to make the first award. Each member of the association casts one vote and also nominates a runner-up. In the event of a tie for first place the number of runner-up votes is taken into consideration. Although it is the older of the two awards, the SFWA award is considered by the players themselves to be of secondary importance to the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year because the winner of the PFA Scotland award is chosen by his fellow professionals.

List of winners The award has been presented on 62 occasions as of 2026, with 53 different individual players winning. Craig Gordon has won the award a record three times; six players (John Greig, Sandy Jardine, Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larsson, Barry Ferguson and Leigh Griffiths) have won the award twice; and on one occasion the award was presented collectively to the Scotland national squad. The table also indicates where the winning player also won the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year award (SPFA). In 2012–13, Leigh Griffiths became the first player to win the SFWA award and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award in the same season.

SeasonPlayerClubAlso wonNotes 1964–65 Celtic 1965–66 Rangers 1966–67 Celtic 1967–68 Raith Rovers 1968–69 Celtic 1969–70 Hibernian 1970–71 Aberdeen 1971–72 Rangers 1972–73 Celtic 1973–74 Scotland World Cup squad N/A 1974–75 Rangers 1975–76 Rangers First player to win the award twice. 1976–77 Celtic 1977–78 RangersSPFA First player to win SFWA and SPFA awards in the same season. 1978–79 Morton 1979–80 Aberdeen 1980–81 Partick Thistle 1981–82 Dundee United 1982–83 CelticSPFA 1983–84 AberdeenSPFA 1984–85 Dundee United 1985–86 Heart of Midlothian First player to win the award twice with two different clubs. 1986–87 CelticSPFA 1987–88 CelticSPFA 1988–89 Rangers 1989–90 Aberdeen 1990–91 Dundee United 1991–92 RangersSPFA 1992–93 RangersSPFA 1993–94 RangersSPFA First non-Scottish winner.1994–95 RangersSPFA First winner from outside the British Isles1995–96 RangersSPFA 1996–97 Rangers 1997–98 Celtic 1998–99 CelticSPFA 1999–00 Rangers 2000–01 CelticSPFA 2001–02 Celtic 2002–03 RangersSPFA 2003–04 Celtic 2004–05 CelticSPFA Hartson shared the SPFA award with Fernando Ricksen.2005–06 Heart of Midlothian 2006–07 CelticSPFA First winner from outside Europe.2007–08 Rangers 2008–09 Celtic 2009–10 Rangers 2010–11 Celtic PFA Scotland2011–12 Celtic PFA Scotland2012–13 Hibernian 2013–14 Celtic PFA Scotland2014–15 Celtic 2015–16 Celtic PFA Scotland 2016–17 Celtic PFA Scotland 2017–18 Celtic PFA Scotland 2018–19 Celtic PFA Scotland 2019–20Celtic2020–21Rangers2021–22Heart of Midlothian2022–23 CelticPFA Scotland2023–24Heart of MidlothianPFA Scotland2024–25 CelticPFA Scotland2025–26Heart of MidlothianPFA Scotland

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country CountryNumber of winsWinning seasons 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2023–24 1993–94, 1995–96, 2016–17 2006–07, 2022–23, 2024–25 1994–95, 1996–97 1998–99, 2000–01 2019–20 2010–11 2020–21 2025–26 2007–08 2004–05

Winners by club ClubNumber of winsWinning seasonsCeltic 1964–65, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2022–23, 2024–25 Rangers 1965–66, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1988–89, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2020–21 Heart of Midlothian 1985–86, 2005–06, 2021–22, 2023–24, 2025–26 Aberdeen 1970–71, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1989–90 Dundee United 1981–82, 1984–85, 1990–91 Hibernian 1969–70, 2012–13 Greenock Morton 1978–79 Partick Thistle 1980–81 Raith Rovers 1967–68 Scotland 1973–74

See also PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year PFA Scotland Team of the Year PFA Players' Player of the Year FWA Footballer of the Year PFAI Players' Player of the Year Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year SFWA International Player of the Year SFWA Manager of the Year SFWA Young Player of the Year

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References