Bruno Fernandes Named FWA Footballer of the Year for 2025/26
Twelve months ago, Bruno Fernandes was staring at a fork in the road. Saudi Arabia’s money circled, the rumours grew louder, and the idea of Manchester United’s captain walking away from Old Trafford felt uncomfortably real.
He stayed. United’s season, and his own, have been shaped by that decision.
Now comes the first major reward. The Football Writers’ Association has named Fernandes its Footballer of the Year for 2025/26, a landmark individual honour in a campaign where he has dragged United back towards relevance.
From deep-lying graft to creative overload
Fernandes’ numbers jump off the page: 19 league assists and eight goals. They look impressive in isolation. In context, they are outrageous.
For half the season he operated as a deep-lying midfielder, sacrificing his favourite No 10 role to plug gaps and stabilise a side still finding its way. Only after Ruben Amorim’s departure at the start of January did he return to his natural position behind the striker.
Once restored, the old Bruno reappeared – but sharper, more rounded, more authoritative. The playmaker who once lived almost exclusively in the final third now stitched games together from back to front, and still found time to carve teams open.
The pressure finally told on the awards circuit.
Narrow win in a heavyweight field
In a vote involving 900 sports writers, Fernandes edged Arsenal’s Declan Rice to claim the FWA’s oldest and most prestigious individual prize. The Portuguese midfielder took 45% of the ballot, finishing 28 votes clear of Rice, with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland in third.
The FWA hailed a “close-run contest” but the outcome underlined how decisively Fernandes has shaped United’s revival. He was the only United player even nominated.
Wayne Rooney was the last United footballer to lift this trophy, back in 2010. Sixteen years on, the award returns to Old Trafford, carried again by a captain whose influence stretches far beyond goals and assists.
FWA chair John Cross summed up the mood: “Bruno is on course to break records and has thrilled us with his skill.”
United’s captain at the centre of everything
United’s own reaction was swift and emphatic. On the club’s official X account, they framed their skipper in three sharp strokes: “Goalscorer. Assist provider. Award winner. Presenting the Footballer of the Year for 2025/26: Bruno Fernandes.”
It fits. Fernandes has become the constant in a season of turbulence – the player who sets the tempo, shoulders responsibility and still finds the killer pass when legs are heavy and ideas are running thin.
Nineteen assists tell part of the story. The eight goals add another layer. The leadership, the relentlessness, the refusal to drift when speculation swirled about his future last summer – that is what swayed so many pens in his favour.
Chasing history against Sunderland
The award will be formally presented at the FWA’s annual dinner in London on May 19. Fernandes, though, has little time for ceremony right now.
His next target is statistical, but symbolic. One more assist. If he reaches 20 in the league when United face Sunderland later today, he will draw level with Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne – elite company in the modern game’s creative hierarchy.
From nearly boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia to standing on the brink of history, Fernandes has turned a career crossroads into a statement season. The FWA trophy is in the bag.
The question now is simple: how much further can he drag Manchester United with him?
