New Zealand’s player of the year – all the winners

posted in: Heritage, Recognition

All White striker Chris Wood is the only player to have won New Zealand’s Player of the Year trophy four times.

Three–time winners have been Brian Turner and Noel Barkley, while dual winners have included Winston Reid, Keith Nelson, Grant Turner, Graham Little, Michael McGarry, Fred de Jong and Ben Sigmund.

All White great Steve Sumner received the award in 1983, the year after he led the national team’s campaign at the World Cup finals in Spain.

The New Zealand Soccer Writers’ Association, as it was in 1970, commissioned the trophy to coincide with the inaugural Rothmans Soccer League and its first recipient was Mick Seed, a key player for that year’s champion club, Blockhouse Bay.

In the early years, the trophy winner was announced at dinners on the eve of the annual Chatham Cup final.

In the early 2000s, the re–named NZ Football Media Association merged its awards with those administered by the national body.

Main photo: A 2016 reunion of past winners … (from left) Noel Barkley, Ron Armstrong, Fred de Jong, Maurice Tillotson, Brian Turner and Steve Sumner.

Past winners

1970 Mick Seed

1971 Ron Armstrong

1972 Ian Ormond

1973 Maurice Tillotson

1974 Brian Turner

1975 Roy Drinkwater

1976 Keith Nelson

1977 Alf Stamp

1978 Tony Sibley

1979 Brian Turner

1980 Brian Turner

1981 Grant Turner

1982 Keith Nelson

1983 Steve Sumner

1984 Colin Walker

1985 Kevin Hagan

1986 Grant Turner

1987 Ceri Evans

1988 Michael McGarry

1989 Noel Barkley

1990 Noel Barkley

1991 Michael McGarry

1992 Noel Barkley

1993 Paul Halford

1994 Darren McLennan

1995 Chris Jackson

1996 Batrum Suri

1997 Jason Batty

1998 Fred de Jong

1999 Kris Bouckenhooge

2000 Fred de Jong

2001 Graham Little

2002 Graham Little

2003 Andy Boyens

2004 No award

2005 Grant Young

2006 Grant Young

2007 Ben Sigmund

2008 Ben Sigmund

2009 Roy Krishna

2010 Aaron Clapham

2011 Allan Pearce

2012 Chris Bale

2015 Winston Reid

2016 Winston Reid

2017 Chris Wood

2018 Chris Wood

2019 Chris Wood

2020 Chris Wood