Serie A MVP Awards: Defender of the year shortlist revealed | OneFootball

The Lega Serie A have revealed their three-man shortlist for the defender of the year prize as part of the division’s annual MVP awards, including Scudetto winner Alessandro Bastoni, as well as Juventus and Bologna centre-backs Gleison Bremer and Riccardo Calafiori.

There are several prizes up for grabs upon the end of the 2023-24 season, including the equivalent awards for goalkeepers, midfielders and attackers, as well as the U-23 player of the year, and the league’s overall MVP, which will be announced directly, without a shortlist, on May 24.

This is the sixth season in the current Serie A awards format.

Serie A confirm that the awards are based on a number of different metrics, including stats recorded from tracking data and the ‘scientifically validated’ player rating system, which measures players’ in-game impact, movement and decision making.

Former Serie A Defenders of the Year winners

Last season’s awards were dominated by Napoli representatives, as the Partenopei were crowned Scudetto winners for the first time in well over 33 years.

It was current Bayern Munich centre-back Kim Min-jae who took home the 2022-23 award for Defender of the Year. Previous winners include this year’s nominee Bremer, while he was still at Torino, as well as Tottenham’s Cristian Romero while he was still with Atalanta, plus Inter’s Stefan de Vrij and former Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly.