King Kylian IV extends his reign with a fourth consecutive title of best player of the season, Sunday at the UNFP Trophies, which also crowned Franck Haise, the Lensois coach, dolphin of Paris Saint-Germain.
A new record for the voracious Mbappé, captain of the France team and Paris Saint-Germain. He now exceeds Zlatan Ibrahimovic, three times crowned with this prize awarded by the players’ union (UNFP) since 1994, where the winners are chosen by the vote of their peers.
He spoke of his “pride. To leave my name in the history of the championship of my country, it is extraordinary, it is what I always wanted, I did not think that I was going to succeed so quickly”. Mbappé is ahead of his teammate Lionel Messi, absent at the ceremony at the Gabriel pavilion, a stone’s throw from the Champs-Élysées.
His trophy was given to him by his coach, Didier Deschamps, and his first words were for his teammate Sergio Rico, substitute goalkeeper, victim of a serious riding accident on Sunday morning. “There are much more important things than football, the whole club is with him, I wanted to have a sense of priorities by talking about that first,” said Mbappé.
The French champions leave with another prize, that of best hope, awarded to the Portuguese left side Nuno Mendes.
The Lensois dolphins also reap two prestigious prizes, because the king of the bench comes from the mine. In three years, Franck Haise built in Lens a team in constant progress until the second place of L1, behind the untouchable PSG, with however the 10th budget of the country.
The successor to Bruno Genesio on the list qualified the Sang et Or for their first Champions League since 2002-2003. “It’s the recognition of a club, of a collective, that will always be the most important thing,” said Franck Haise on stage, welcoming his “exceptional group, sometimes with music that is a little loud for the ears, an exceptional group for three seasons”.
The great Lensoise season also owes a lot to the new best goalkeeper in Ligue 1, Brice Samba, elected a year after Gianluigi Donnarumma.
If Karim Benzema has kept his prize for best Frenchman abroad, among women, the trophy for best player in D1 Arkema should not console Lyonnaise Delphine Cascarino, injured in her knee and forfeited for the World Cup.
She received her prize from the hands of Jean-Michel Aulas, for her farewell to the presidency. This pioneer of women’s football also has the best goalkeeper, the Chilean Christiane Endler, in its ranks, its rivals from PSG contenting themselves with the best hope, Laurina Fazer.
In L2, the Georgian international from Metz Georges Mikautadze won, Le Havre, leader all season and on the way to moving up to L1, has the best coach, the Slovenian Luka Elsner, and the best goalkeeper, Arthur Desmas.
As for the game directors, François Letexier was elected best central referee and Hicham Zakrani, who officiates with Benoît Bastien, best assistant.
A posthumous honorary prize was awarded to Just Fontaine, legendary top scorer of the 1958 World Cup with 13 goals, who died this year, and his name will now be attached to the prize for the best goal of the season, in L1 as in L2.
The public vote this year chose Montpellier’s Elye Wahi for his acrobatic return against Lyon, and in L2 Stéphanois Mathieu Cafaro for a goal against Annecy.
Finally, the citizen player trophy was awarded to Marshall Munetsi, who donates part of his salary to his association for access to education for young people in Zimbabwe. “Where I come from education is never free, 10 or 20% of my salary can help change lives,” said the Rémois, another ruler of the evening.
The full list:
List of UNFP trophies for the 2022-2023 season, presented on Sunday in Paris: Best L1 player: Kylian Mbappé (Paris SG) Best L1 goalkeeper: Brice Samba (Lens) Best L1 coach: Franck Haise (Lens) Best L1 hopeful L1: Nuno Mendes (POR/Paris SG) Best L2 player: Georges Mikautadze (GEO/Metz) Best female D1 player: Delphine Cascarino (Lyon) Best L1 referee: François Letexier Best L1 assistant referee: Hicham Zakrani Best referee of L2: Pierre Legat Best assistant referee of L2: Julien Pacelli UNFP Trophy of Honor: Just Fontaine UNFP Citizen Player Trophy: Marshall Munetsi (ZIM/Reims) for his foundation for education in Zimbabwe Just Fontaine Trophy in L1: Elye Wahi (Montpellier) against Lyon on October 22 Just Fontaine Trophy in L2: Mathieu Cafaro (Saint-Etienne) against Annecy, February 4
