The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year (often called the FWA Footballer of the Year, or in England simply the Footballer of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in English football. The award has been presented since the 1947–48 season, when the inaugural winner was Blackpool winger Stanley Matthews. The latest winner of the award as of 2016–17 is N'Golo Kante of Chelsea. Eight players have won the award on more than one occasion, the most recent being Cristiano Ronaldo, who won his second award in the 2007–08 season. Thierry Henry has won the award on the most occasions, having won three times in four seasons.
The winner is selected by a vote amongst the members of the Football Writers' Association (FWA), which comprises around 400 football journalists based throughout England. The award was instigated at the suggestion of Charles Buchan, a former professional footballer turned journalist and one of the Association's founders.
The award has been presented on 69 occasions as of 2015, with 60 different winners. On one occasion two players shared the award for a season. The table also indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in English football, namely the Professional Footballers' Association's Players' Player of the Year award (PPY),Fans' Player of the Year award (FPY), the Young Player of the Year award (YPY), and the Football Supporters’ Federation Player of the Year award (FSF).