Florian Wirtz wins Germany’s player of the year award

BERLIN (AP) — Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz has been voted Germany’s player of the year for 2024-25 after another standout season at Bayer Leverkusen while Freiburg’s Julian Schuster won the coach’s accolade.

Germany teammates Giulia Gwinn and Ann-Katrin Berger have to share the women’s player of the year award after both received 608 valid votes from members of the Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) in the yearly poll organized by Kicker magazine.

Kicker said Sunday that the 22-year-old Wirtz, who switched to Liverpool in June for a fee that could climb to 116 million pounds ($156 million), received 191 votes, ahead of Michael Olise of Bayern Munich (81), Nick Woltemade of Stuttgart (71) and Thomas Müller (70), who last week joined MSL side Vancouver after a career at Bayern.

“I can’t think of a more worthy successor than you,” former winner Toni Kroos said of Wirtz.

Schuster led modest club Freiburg to fifth place in the Bundesliga, securing Europa League qualification in his first season in charge since taking over from longtime coach Christian Streich.

Schuster was followed by Horst Steffen, who almost led Elversberg to Bundesliga promotion, and 2020 winner Hansi Flick, who led Barcelona to a domestic double.

The player of the year award has been awarded since 1960, with the coaches honored since 2002. Franz Beckenbauer leads the player category with four awards, while Jürgen Klopp and Felix Magath both won the coach’s award three times.

The women’s player of the year award has been awarded each season since 1996.

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