Paris (AFP)
The UNFP trophies, notably rewarding the best player of the season in Ligue 1, will not be awarded at the end of the 2019-2020 season, which was stopped prematurely due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organizing union announced on Tuesday.
"Beyond a shortened season and the difficulties - even the impossibility - of organizing the traditional gala evening with regard to sanitary provisions, the heart of French professional football is today neither at the party, nor to individual rewards in this period of crisis, "explains the National Union of Professional Footballers.
This year's gala was originally scheduled for Sunday, May 17.
"The vacant prize list for the 2020 edition will make it possible to underline the selflessness of the nursing staff and of all those who have, in the last two months, served in the service of all of our society", she continues.
There is therefore no successor this year to Kylian Mbappé, named in May 2019 best player and best hope of the championship of France.
The event also crowned Lille's Mike Maignan and Christophe Galtier as best goalkeeper and best coach. The Lyon midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan had received the prize for the best player in D1, that of the best hope going to the Parisian striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto.
The trophies, awarded each year during a televised ceremony, are awarded after a physically organized vote with the players playing in French clubs. The stopping of competitions since mid-March made the holding of this election impossible.
This season, six players have been honored with the honorary title awarded each month: Rennais Eduardo Camavinga (August), Lille Victor Osimhen (September), Parisian Thiago Silva (October), Lyonnais Jeff Reine-Adélaïde (November), Monaco's Wissam Ben Yedder (December) and Parisian Neymar (January), favorites for the 2020 trophy.
© 2020 AFP