Chelsea striker Pernille Harder wins Uefa Player of the Year Award

Chelsea striker Pernille Harder has won the Uefa Player of the Year Award to become the first player to be named Europe’s best for a second time.

Harder, who moved from Wolfsburg to Chelsea last month, finished ahead of Wendie Renard and last year's winner Lucy Bronze in the voting conducted by a panel of leading coaches and journalists.

The 27-year-old, who became the world’s most expensive player when making the move to the reigning English champions, also topped the poll back in 2017/18.

She enjoyed a remarkable season with Wolfsburg, scoring nine times with four assists as the German club reached the Champions League final, losing 3-1 to Lyon back in August.

However, the Denmark international and former Wolfsburg skipper did win a fourth domestic Double in the Frauen Bundesliga, while finishing as the league’s top scorer with 27 goals, the highest number of goals scored by any player in the competition since 2010.

“I’m super honoured to achieve this award,” Harder said after learning of her success. “It’s one of the biggest awards you can achieve individually so I’m super happy and very proud.

"It shows me that all my hard work I put in and all the sacrificing [sic] is worth it and I get to be the Player of the Year in Europe.

"There is of course people to thank – my old club Wolfsburg, all the players in the team, they helped me also to achieve this award because football is a team sport so I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without them. I would like to say thank you to them.

“Now, I’m looking forward to the next season to come now I’m here at Chelsea, I’m looking forward to playing Champions League with Chelsea and hopefully winning it in the future.

“It’s an amazing club and I’m looking forward to be a part of it. A new year has started, and I will do everything I can to be the best this year as well.”