Since the English Premier League formalized the Man of the Match award for the 2009-10 season, 380 awards have been given out a season. That’s 380 x 14 seasons, that’s 5,320 matches, each with their very own Man of the Match. 1,387 players have won a Premier League man of the match award since 2009.
Who has won the most Premier League Man of the Match Awards? The player with the most Premier League Man of the Match awards is Harry Kane. The Tottenham Hotspur striker, surpassed former Chelsea maestro Eden Hazard’s 62 awards in the 2022-23 season, finishing with 68 awards in 301 Premier League starts. Hazard won his 62 awards in just 222 starts, meaning he won Man of the Match every 3.6 Premier League games he played in.
The Premier League Man of the Match award is a brilliant indicator of success in the world’s toughest football league. The top 20 is a litany of who’s who of the Premier League since 2009.
List of the top 20 Premier League Man of the Match winners
| Rank | Player | Teams | PL Starts | PL MotM | Games per MotM |
| 1 | Harry Kane | Tottenham | 301 | 68 | 4.4 |
| 2 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 222 | 62 | 3.6 |
| 3 | Kevin De Bruyne | Man City | 210 | 54 | 3.9 |
| 4 | Sergio Agüero | Man City | 206 | 39 | 5.3 |
| 5 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 205 | 35 | 5.9 |
| 6 | Sadio Mané | Liverpool, Southampton | 237 | 34 | 7.0 |
| 7 | Robin van Persie | Arsenal, Man Utd | 148 | 34 | 4.4 |
| 8 | Christian Benteke | Aston Villa, Liverpool, Crystal Palace | 197 | 34 | 5.8 |
| 9 | Raheem Sterling | Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea | 270 | 33 | 8.2 |
| 10 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester, Man City | 223 | 33 | 6.8 |
| 11 | Alexis Sánchez | Arsenal, Man Utd | 127 | 32 | 4.0 |
| 12 | Wayne Rooney | Man Utd, Everton | 225 | 30 | 7.5 |
| 13 | Luis Suárez | Liverpool | 95 | 29 | 3.3 |
| 14 | David Silva | Man City | 281 | 28 | 10.0 |
| 15 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham | 126 | 28 | 4.5 |
| 16 | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace | 273 | 27 | 10.1 |
| 17 | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool, Aston Villa | 153 | 27 | 5.7 |
| 18 | Christian Eriksen | Tottenham, Brentford, Man Utd | 241 | 27 | 8.9 |
| 19 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton, Man Utd, Chelsea, West Brom | 224 | 27 | 8.3 |
| 20 | Roberto Firmino | Liverpool | 211 | 26 | 8.1 |
Why is their only Man of the Match data since 2009?
In 2009 the Premier League formalized the Man of the Match award. Although they were given out before this date, it was inconsistent and controlled by a host of different sponsors and broadcasters with no official record being kept of who won what. Sadly this means we will never have a complete record of who has won the most Premier League Man of the Match awards. Legends such as Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Eric Cantona, Ryan GIggs, David Beckham and Michael Owen all played the vast majority of their Premier League careers before 2009. Later legends like Didier Drogba, Stephen Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie have incomplete data, although still impressively finish quite high on the “Since 2009” list.
We think it’s safe to assume that some of the names listed above would have had a great shot at holding the overall Man of the Match record, had data been recorded since the formation of the Premier League in1992.
Who has the most Premier League Man of the Match awards per game played?
We have broken down the Premier League Man of the Match data available since 2009 to work out who has won the most Man of the Match awards per game played. We filtered the data to give us only players that had won a minimum of 10 Premier League Man of the Match awards;
| Rank | Player | Teams | PL Starts | PL MotM | Games per MotM |
| 1 | Luis Suárez | Liverpool | 95 | 29 | 3.3 |
| 2 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 222 | 62 | 3.6 |
| 3 | Didier Drogba | Chelsea | 77 | 21 | 3.7 |
| 4 | Kevin De Bruyne | Man City | 210 | 54 | 3.9 |
| 5 | Alexis Sánchez | Arsenal, Man Utd | 127 | 32 | 4.0 |
| 6 | Robin van Persie | Arsenal, Man Utd | 148 | 34 | 4.4 |
| 7 | Harry Kane | Tottenham | 301 | 68 | 4.4 |
| 8 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham | 126 | 28 | 4.5 |
| 9 | Carlos Tevez | Man City | 90 | 20 | 4.5 |
| 10 | Dimitri Payet | West Ham | 46 | 10 | 4.6 |
Luis Suarez tops this list with 29 Man of the Match awards in 95 games, meaning he won MotM every 3.3 Premier League games he played in. He spent 4 seasons at Anfield where he grew into his role, scoring 31 goals in just 33 games in his final season before leaving for Barcelona. Suarez was one of the most impactful players in Premier League history.
Current legends and persistent MotM winners Kevin De Bruyne (4th) and Harry Kane (7th) look likely to keep adding to their talleys in the seasons to come.
Didier Drogba is an interesting entry on the per game list. Joining Chelsea in 2004 he played 5 of his 8 seasons before the start of the Man of the Match records. Even so in the remaining 3 seasons he tallied 22 Premier League Man of the Match awards in just 77 games. A striker who could dominate games without scoring goals, his time in the Premier League will be remembered fondly for years.
The final player on the list is Dimitri Payet. The French Midfield Maestro only had a brief time in the Premier League, but it was impactful. Coming to West Ham from Marseillle as the French club faced financial uncertainty, Payet played only a season and a half in East London before returning to the French side after they were purchased by new owners. Payet won Premier League Player of the year in his only full season in the Premier League, 2015-16. In total he played just 46 games, winning a whopping 10 Man of the Match awards. Leaving the Hammers under a cloud he is not celebrated, but the memory of his contributions to the league will live on.
What active players have won the most Premier League Man of the Match Awards?
We went through the data and cherry picked some of the top names with multiple Premier League Man of the Match awards to their name.
| Rank | Player | Teams | PL Starts | PL MotM | GGames per MotM |
| 1 | Harry Kane | Tottenham | 301 | 68 | 4.4 |
| 2 | Kevin De Bruyne | Man City | 210 | 54 | 3.9 |
| 3 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 205 | 35 | 5.9 |
| 4 | Riyad Mahrez | Man City | 223 | 33 | 6.8 |
| 5 | Raheem Sterling | Chelsea | 270 | 33 | 8.2 |
| 6 | Christian Eriksen | Man Utd | 241 | 27 | 8.9 |
| 7 | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace | 273 | 27 | 10.1 |
| 8 | Son Heung-Min | Tottenham | 169 | 22 | 7.7 |
| 9 | Marcus Rashford | Man Utd | 150 | 21 | 7.1 |
| 10 | Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool | 324 | 20 | 16.2 |
| 11 | Bruno Fernandes | Man Utd | 121 | 18 | 6.7 |
| 12 | James Maddison | TBC | 144 | 18 | 8.0 |
| 13 | Allan Saint-Maximin | Newcastle | 85 | 16 | 5.3 |
| 14 | Richarlison | Tottenham | 129 | 16 | 8.1 |
| 15 | Adama Traoré | Wolves | 73 | 15 | 4.9 |
| 16 | Mason Mount | Chelsea | 111 | 15 | 7.4 |
| 17 | Anthony Martial | Man Utd | 113 | 13 | 8.7 |
| 18 | Gabriel Jesus | Man City | 123 | 16 | 7.7 |
| 19 | Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool | 188 | 23 | 8.2 |
| 20 | Bernardo Silva | Man City | 126 | 12 | 10.5 |
| 21 | Callum Wilson | Newcastle | 153 | 19 | 8.1 |
| 22 | Ivan Toney | Brentford | 65 | 10 | 6.5 |
These are some of the biggest names in the Premier League at the moment. Kane, KDB, Salah and Mahrez unsurprisingly top the list.
Some names that are missing would be Arsenal talisman Bukayo Saka who has 9 MotM awards in 103 games. Although the young star has a stunning 10 MotM awards in just 36 games for England. So expect him to rise up the list.
In addition, Erling Haaland (6 in 33) set the Premier League on fire this year. The spearhead of a City team with Kevin De Bruyne as the driver he is sure to get more Man of the Match awards as he continues to tear up the record books for City in the coming seasons. KDB finished top of the charts last season with 9 awards.
Who won the most Premier League Man of the Match Awards each year?
Since 2009 when the Premier League formalized the Man of the Match process there is data that shows who won the most man of the match awards each season. This could be a good way of seeing who was the most influential player each year. Let’s take a look;
| Season | Player | Team | Man of the Match Awards | PL Champions | PL Player of the season |
| 2009-10 | Didier Drogba | Chelsea | 13 | Chelsea | Wayne Rooney |
| 2010-11 | Carlos Tevez | Man City | 8 | Man Utd | Nemanja Vidić |
| 2011-12 | Robin van Persie | Arsenal | 12 | Man City | Vincent Kompany |
| 2012-13 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham | 11 | Man Utd | Gareth Bale |
| 2013-14 | Luis Suárez | Liverpool | 14 | Man City | Luis Suárez |
| 2014-15 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 10 | Chelsea | Eden Hazard |
| 2015-16 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester | 10 | Leicester | Jamie Vardy |
| 2016-17 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 13 | Chelsea | N’Golo Kanté |
| 2017-18 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | Man City | Mohamed Salah |
| 2018-19 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 14 | Man City | Virgil van Dijk |
| 2019-20 | Kevin De Bruyne | Man City | 10 | Liverpool | Kevin De Bruyne |
| 2020-21 | Harry Kane | Tottenham | 13 | Man City | Rúben Dias |
| 2021-22 | Harry Kane | Tottenham | 7 | Man City | Kevin De Bruyne |
| 2022-23 | Kevin De Bruyne | Man City | 9 | Man City | Erling Haaland |
We have included the Premier League champions by season and the winner of the Premier League player of the year.
On only 4 occasions has the player who won the most Man of the Match awards won the Premier Player of the year award.
- 2012-13 Gareth Bale
- 2013-14 Luis Suarez
- 2014-15 Eden Hazard
- 2019-20 Kevin De Bruyne
The most Premier League man of the Match awards ever won by a single player in one season is 14. This feat was achieved twice, once by Luis Suarez in 2013-14 and once by Eden Hazard in 2018-19.
On 3 occasions the player winning the most man of the match awards saw the player of the season award go to a teammate. Riyadh Mahrez was pipped by Jamie Vardy in 2015-16, Eden Hazard by N’golo Kante in 2016-17 and Kevin De Bruyne was beaten by Erling Haaland in 2022-23. On each of those occasions their team won the Premier League title.
What do Premier League players get for Man of the Match?
The Premier League Man of the Match award is voted for by fans. They can do this via the Premier League website or the mobile app on Android & IOS. After the match a voting button appears, fans are asked to select their man of the match from a shortlist of 5 players from each side. The shortlist is created based on ‘Fantasy Premier League Bonus Points’ they have accumulated during that match. The Man of the Match is awarded to the player who received the most votes.
Players themselves will be awarded with a trophy for winning Man of the Match. As recently as 2012 a bottle of Champagne was given out as the prize. However these days it is a simple trophy usually holding the name and logo of whoever is the current sponsor of the award.
The current sponsor is EA Sports FIFA. Although with the game set to rebrand at the end of the year after FIFA withdrew their naming rights, we may have a brand new sponsor next year.
Who has the most man-of-the-match awards?
The man of the match award is one that has not always been given so it is difficult to say who has the most man of the match awards of all time. However, there is one person who is believed to have the most man-of-the-match awards in football history and this will not surprise many people.
Lionel Messi is thought to have the most man-of-the-match awards in football history, with 307 awards in the league and Champions League in his successful football career. What is incredible about Messi’s record is that he has won the man of the match award in 53% of the matches that he has featured in.
Messi has won 307 man of the match awards in his career at the time of writing and this is many more than Cristiano Ronaldo who has 168 man of the match awards in his career.
Who is the best player in the world?
It feels slightly difficult to determine who is the best player in the world at the moment as for so long the answer has always been either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. But it seems likely that neither is the correct answer at the moment.
Kylian Mbappe seems like the most likely player to be considered the best player in the world. The young French forward has been exceptional over the last few years and looks like one of the best players in the world.
Mbappe really exploded onto the global stage when he broke through into the Monaco team of 2016-17, scoring 15 league goals in his first full season with the team at a very young age. It earned him a huge move to PSG where Mbappe has been the best player in the world over the last couple of years.
One of the fastest players in the league, Mbappe is incredibly difficult to stop and makes it pretty much impossible for opposition defenders. He has been France’s best player in back-to-back World Cups and is likely the world’s best player.
The answer for a lot of other people could be guys like Robert Lewandoski, Erling Haaland or Mbappe’s teammate Neymar.