Belgium’s Eden Hazard has been selected as one of the three final candidates for the UEFA European League 2018/19 Player of the Season award, the European football federation announced on Thursday.
The winner will be announced on 30 August in Monaco, at the draw for the group phase of the next Europa League.
The coaches of the 48 teams that participated in last season’s Europa League 2019/20 group phase were authorised to vote, along with 55 specialised journalists.
The three players nominated obtained the highest number of votes.
Eden Hazard was the architect of Chelsea’s victory in the last League final, scoring two goals against Arsenal. He was transferred this summer to Real Madrid.
The other finalists are Hazard’s French teammate, Olivier Giroud, best scorer in the competition (11 goals in 14 matches) and Serbia’s Luka Jovic, the Eintracht Francfort striker, who scored 10 goals in 14 matches. His team lost to Chelsea on penalties in the semi-final. Like Hazard, Jovic joined Real this season.
The first two UEFA Player of the Season awards went to Frenchmen Paul Pogba, in 2017, and Antoine Griezmann, in 2018.
The Brussels Times
