Virgil van Dijk #4

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Uefa has handed out the European Footballer of the Year award since 2011. Only once has the prestigious prize gone to a defender – in 2019, when Virgil van Dijk beat Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. “I had to work hard for every step of the way – that's part of me and I'm very happy about that,” he said as he accepted the award. “I'm very proud, it's all credit to everyone that's helped me along the way.” The son of a Surinamese mother and Dutch father, he was initially criticised in the youth ranks at Willem II after being deemed too “laid-back”. Via FC Groningen, Celtic and Southampton, he arrived at Liverpool in 2018. A proper leader for club and country, even though in the Netherlands he still rarely gets the credit he deserves, being held in higher esteem in England. That’s not true back at Willem II, though, where they named a stand after him at their Sportpark Prinsenhoeve youth facility in Tilburg last year. The club said: “With this, his name is not only immortalised in the rich history of Willem II, but also emphatically linked to the development of youth football in the city.”

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