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The UEFA Men's Player of the Year (POTY) is an annual award given to a Europe-based player based on his performances for both club and country during a season. The Chelsea duo of Jorginho and N'Golo Kante and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne have been shortlisted for this year's award.
The final shortlist of the three players for this year's award was chosen based on votes received from a jury comprising all 24 national coaches of the teams that participated at Euro 2020, coaches of all 80 teams that featured in the 2020-21 Champions League and Europa League, and one selected journalist from each of UEFA's 55 national associations.
No coach was allowed to chose a player from his team; the player selected first by each member of the jury got five points, the second three, and the third one. Based on the cumulative point totals, the final three players get chosen.
Notable absentees in the top three this year are Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo, who finished fourth, fifth and ninth, respectively in the standings.
On that note, here's a look at the three shortlisted players for this year's UEFA Men's POTY award and their chances of winning the same.
#3 Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium)
Manchester City's midfield metronome Kevin De Bruyne had another spectacular individual season in 2020-21 despite missing a few games for club and country due to injury.
The 30-year-old played only 25 league games as City won their third Premier League title in four years. De Bruyne contributed six goals and 12 assists, starting and ending his campaign with a goal and an assist.
He fared better in the Champions League, scoring all three of his goals in the knockout stages and also dishing out four assists. But with De Bruyne drawing a blank in the final against Chelsea, City finished second-best in their maiden trip to the competition's title match.
De Bruyne, who also won the League Cup during the campaign, fared well for Belgium at Euro 2020, scoring once and assisting twice before the Red Devils were eliminated by eventual champions Italy in the quarter-finals.
#2 N'Golo Kante (Chelsea/France)
N'Golo Kante has evolved into one of the finest defensive midfielders in the game since arriving at Chelsea in the summer of 2016 as a Premier League winner with Leicester City.
Since then, the Frenchman has won another Premier League title and has also triumphed once each in the Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup. Last season, Kante played nearly 50 games in all competitions, including all 13 in the Blues' victorious Champions League campaign. He particularly excelled in the final against Manchester City, especially in the defensive side of his game, helping Chelsea win the competition for the first time in nine years.
The 30-year-old also featured for France at Euro 2020, playing every minute of Les Bleus' campaign at the tournament, which ended against Switzerland in a quarter-final penalty shootout.
That could go against Kante in winning the UEFA Men's POTY award this year, as the reigning world champions were expected to go all the way in the tournament.
#1 Jorginho (Chelsea/Italy)
Jorginho has had a memorable season for club and country. Arriving at Chelsea in the summer of 2018, he has been a key player at the club, making almost 150 appearances in all competitions.
The 29-year-old, who operates both as a defensive midfielderlike his clubmate Kante as well as a regista, doesn't produce too many goal contributions. But he has clutch from the spot, scoring nine of his 12 penalties in all competitions, including seven in the Premier League last season.
After playing a stellar role in his Chelsea's first Champions League triumph in nearly a decade, Jorginho also excelled at Euro 2020 for Italy, breaking up opponents' plays and kickstarting attacks from the back.
And to top that off, Jorginho, who did not produce a goal contribution during the tournament, scored the winning penalty against Spain in the semi-finals. Although he failed to do so in the final against England, Jorginho joined Emerson as the only players to win the Champions League and the European Championship in the same year.
In fact, considering Jorginho's exploits with club and country this year, he has also been touted to win the Ballon d'Or award, which is usually won by more forward players.
Much like the UEFA Men' POTY award, the Coach of the Year award this year was voted for by the coaches of all 24 teams at Euro 2020 and all 80 teams in the Champions League and the Europa League, and a selected journalist from each of UEFA's 55 member associations.
No coach was allowed to choose himself; the coach selected first by each member of the jury got five points, the second got three, and the third got one. Based on the cumulative point totals, the final three contenders were determined.
The three shortlisted nominees for this year's UEFA Coach of the Year award are Manchester City's legendary tactician Pep Guardiola, Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel and Italy's Roberto Mancini.
So, without further ado, let's delve into each man's credentials and rank them on an ascending order of likelihood of winning the award:
#3 Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)
Pep Guardiola is one of the most decorated managers in the game's history. After announcing his managerial prowess to the world with an excellent Barcelona team about a decade ago where he won three successive league titles and a continental treble, Guardiola has also tasted success in his subsequent managerial assignments.
The former Barcelona player did a league three-peat with Bayern Munich before arriving at Manchester City in the summer of 2016. At the Etihad, a league three-peat was not to be, but last season Guardiola's men won a third Premier League title in four seasons.
Apart from that, Guardiola took City to their maiden Champions League final, where the Cityzens failed to become the newest club to win the competition, though. In fact, Guardiola's men had the chance to win a quadruple, but lost in the FA Cup semis and won the League Cup, but did win the league as previously mentioned.
That could go against Guardiola in his bid to win this year's Coach of the Year award, as City seemingly had the personnel to become the first English team to win the quadruple.
#2 Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea)
Thomas Tuchel is not even a year into his latest managerial stint at Chelsea, but he has already been a whiff of fresh air at the club.
Arriving from French giants PSG earlier this year. whom he took to the Champions League final in 2019-20, Tuchel repeated the trick with Chelsea and went one step further. After arresting Chelsea's slide in the Premier League, which led to the sacking of Frank Lampard, the German embarked on an impressive unbeaten streak.
Chelsea recovered to finish fourth in the Premier League, but there was better fortune awaiting them in the Champions League.
Tuchel's men won three successive knockout rounds in the competition to reach the Champions League final, where they beat Pep Guardiola's Manchester City to notch up their first victory in the competition in nearly a decade.
#1 Roberto Mancini (Italy)
While Guardiola and Tuchel are strong contenders for this year's Coach of the Year award, Roberto Mancini's achievements at Italy's helm arguably surpass the duo's.
Assuming charge of an Azzurri team that failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in six decades, Mancini set about transforming Italy's fortunes. The Azzurri produced a perfect Euro 2020 qualification campaign, winning all ten games, to arrive at the tournament proper as one of the dark horses.
The Azzurri won all three group games at Euro 2020, and became the team to beat after a host of pre-tournament favourites - France, Portugal, Belgium - to name a few, crashed out before the semis. Mancini's men especially displayed a game-management masterclass in their quarter-final win over Belgium, but there was better in store for the Azzurri.
Although Italy failed to hold on to a slender lead against Spain in the semis, they prevailed in a penalty shootout to reach the final. There they recovered from an early goal down to beat hosts England in another shootout as Italy created a new record of the longest gap (53 years) between successive Euro triumphs.
Mancini's men are now only one game shy of matching Spain and Brazil's record of the longest unbeaten run in international men's football. That, along with the Euro triumph, makes Mancini the most deserving candidate to win this year's UEFA Coach of the Year award.
