Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw have been named the Professional Footballers' Association's men's and women's players of the year for the 2025-26 season, adding to the Football Writers' Association honours they collected earlier this year.
Fernandes was rewarded for a campaign in which he rewrote the Premier League record books, laying on 21 assists to surpass the previous benchmark of 20 set jointly by Thierry Henry and Kevin de Bruyne. The Portuguese midfielder also found the net nine times in 35 league appearances as United recovered from an underwhelming start under Michael Carrick to finish third and secure a return to the Champions League. Across all competitions, Fernandes finished with nine goals and 22 assists in 37 matches.
He becomes the first United player to win the prize since Wayne Rooney in 2010, and only the second Portuguese recipient after Cristiano Ronaldo's back-to-back victories in 2007 and 2008. Fernandes saw off competition from Arsenal trio David Raya, William Saliba and Declan Rice, along with Manchester City's Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland.
"It is obviously a very proud moment," Fernandes said. "They are the ones you go on the pitch against and it's probably not easy to vote for someone you play against, so it is a very good moment."
Shaw claimed the women's award for the second time, having previously won it following the 2023-24 season, joining Lucy Bronze and Fran Kirby as multiple winners. The Jamaica international scored 21 goals in just 22 appearances as City won the Women's Super League title, including hat-tricks against Aston Villa and Tottenham plus a brace against West Ham on the final day. It was enough to secure a third consecutive WSL Golden Boot, making her the first player to reach 20-plus league goals in three separate WSL campaigns and the first to win the golden boot on three occasions, moving ahead of two-time winners Vivienne Miedema and Sam Kerr. She also scored five further goals, including the opener in the final, as City lifted the FA Cup.
In the young player categories, Manchester City's Nico O'Reilly succeeded Morgan Rogers as the men's winner after establishing himself in Pep Guardiola's starting XI, contributing five goals and nine clean sheets across 34 league games while also helping England claim World Cup bronze. "I had a great season," O'Reilly said. "I'm very proud of the season I had. I won two trophies with my club and managed to play at the World Cup with my country. I'm over the moon how it turned out."
Arsenal's Olivia Smith retained the women's young player award, becoming only the second player after Lauren Hemp to win it more than once, after scoring 10 goals following her £1m move from Liverpool.
Arsenal's title-winning campaign was reflected in the PFA Premier League team of the year, with David Raya, Gabriel, Saliba, Jurrien Timber and Rice all selected after the Gunners conceded just 27 goals. City supplied four names in O'Reilly, Cherki, Haaland and Antoine Semenyo, while Fernandes and Brentford's Igor Thiago, who scored 22 league goals and earned a World Cup call-up, completed the XI.
The WSL team of the year was led by champions City with three representatives, alongside three apiece from Chelsea and Arsenal, plus Manchester United's Jess Park and Tottenham's Toko Koga.
Elsewhere, Everton's Hayden Hackney was honoured for his Championship form with Middlesbrough, Bristol City's Dom Ballard won the League One prize for his exploits at Leyton Orient, Swindon's Aaron Drinan claimed the League Two award, and Birmingham's Lily Crosthwaite took the WSL2 accolade. Sir Kenny Dalglish and Karen Carney received merit awards for their contributions to the game.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport, The Guardian, The Independent and The Standard.