TheDanish Player of the Year award is an annual prize, which has been given to the best male Danishfootball player by theDanish Football Association since 1963. The winner is decided in a vote among the professional Danish footballers. Since 2000, there has also been an award for the top female player. The winner is decided by a vote among allElitedivisionen players.
Jens Petersen was the first player to win the award in 1963. In 1975,Henning Munk Jensen became the first player to win the prize for a second time. Up until 1978, the Danish Football Association's rule of amateurism meant only players in the domestic league could win the prize. Even after the emergence of paid football in Denmark in 1978, no players in foreign clubs were eligible for the award - this was in part the reason why 1977European Footballer of the Year strikerAllan Simonsen didn't win the award, as he played abroad from 1972 to 1983. When the award was finally opened to all Danish players in 1983, national team captainMorten Olsen was the first player to win the award.
The record title holder isPernille Harder, who has eight honours. The male record holder isChristian Eriksen, with five awards.Brøndby IF is thefootball club with most players selected for the award.
Since 2006 theDanish Football Association, in association with the TV-stationTV2, has also given an award to the best football player in Denmark. The winner of the award is announced at the annual award show called Dansk Fodbold Award.
The past winners of DBUs "Danish player of the year".
Sponsored byArla Foods, the awards were initially known asMælkens talentpriser (the milk's talent awards) in order to promote the line ofdairy products of the company then known as "MD Foods". DBU found new sponsorDONG (later DONG Energy), an oil company, in 2004 but Arla went on to sponsor the prize which was renamedArla's talentpriser (Arla's talent awards) in 2005.[1]Archived 2018-12-12 at theWayback Machine[2][3]Archived 2016-03-16 at theWayback Machine
(*) Players who have played at least one match for thesenior national team.