UNFP Awards: Why Vitinha deserved to win Player of the season over Ousmane Dembélé

On May 11, the best Ligue 1 players met at the Palais Brongniart in Paris for the 34th UNFP Awards. A ceremony that recognises the season's best players. After their 1-0 victory over Brest last weekend, Paris are almost promised another Ligue 1 title as their players excelled throughout the 2025-2026 campaign.

While Désiré Doué won his second consecutive Young Player trophy after another incredible individual season. Ousmane Dembélé was crowned Ligue 1 Player of the year for the second year running, even though, he only started nine games throughout the whole league campaign. Additionally, the 2025 Ballon d'Or only featured on the pitch for a full game just once, while also missing a big part of the season through injury. His nomination for this award sparked a fire on social media with many observers surprised that a player that missed most of the season won the award.

Meanwhile, Vitinha played 27 games for the Parisians in Ligue 1, being one of the most important players of the team, while being a dominant force in midfield.

Why Vitinha should have won Player of the Year instead of Dembélé

The Portuguese is one of the rare PSG players that managed to avoid any injuries as he also delivered great performances consistently during the season in domestic competitions and in Europe. Players such as Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia or Ousmane Dembélé who was also rewarded of the goal of the season are often the ones captivating the public due to their spectacular playstyles and goals.

However, the one often making it possible for PSG's offensive players to shine is Vitinha who is overwhemingly present in the build-up of their plays. The UNFP Awards would have been the perfect occasion for Ligue 1 players, coaches and observers to rewards the Portuguese after his excellent season.

He is without a doubt the best player of this team this season and while his importance is not underestimated, he is regularly outshined by their offensive players. The lack of goalscoring from the Portuguese should not be an argument against him as he is impacting the game differently.

Ousmane Dembélé did not impact PSG's Ligue 1 season to the same extent as Vitinha, while he scored 10 goals and delivered six assists he did not have any real impact on their domestic campaign while missing most of the season. It is why Vitinha was the perfect and only choice when selecting the Ligue 1 Player of the Year.

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