Declan Rice has been named the Premier League Player of the Year at the inaugural BBC Football Awards, a new digital ceremony streamed on the BBC Football YouTube channel and BBC Sport website. The Arsenal midfielder was chosen by a panel of BBC Sport pundits, commentators and journalists, who voted for the standout players, managers and moments of the 2025/26 season across multiple leagues.
The awards also saw Khadija Shaw win the Women's Super League Player of the Year after another exceptional campaign for Manchester City. Other winners included Manchester City's Nico O'Reilly as Breakthrough Player of the Year, and Frank Lampard (Coventry City) and Alex Neil (Millwall) sharing the Manager of the Year award.
The ceremony featured a Team of the Year for the Premier League, which included Rice alongside teammates David Raya, Jurriën Timber, Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba, as well as Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes and Manchester City's Erling Haaland. The Scottish Premiership, Women's Super League, EFL Championship, League One and League Two also had their own Teams of the Year.
Other notable awards included Youssef Chermiti's overhead kick for Rangers against Celtic as Goal of the Season, and the 'most predictable manager sacking' being Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest. The show was hosted by BBC Sport presenter Sam Harris, alongside Alex Fletcher, Georgina Chadwick and content creator Watson Hirschfield.
