Alan Hardaker Trophy

Summary

The Alan Hardaker Trophy is an annual association football award presented to the Man of the Match in the EFL Cup final (also currently known as the Carabao Cup). The trophy is named after Alan Hardaker, the EFL's former secretary who conceived the League Cup.[1][2]

Virgil van Dijk is the current holder of the award.

The Alan Hardaker Trophy was first awarded in 1990, Des Walker was the inaugural recipient. Ben Foster, John Terry, Vincent Kompany and Virgil van Dijk have won the award on two occasions, the most wins by an individual. Ben Foster is the only player to have won the award with 2 different clubs; Manchester United and Birmingham City respectively. Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have all received the award six times, more than any other club. English players have won the trophy seventeen times, which is a record; the only other nations with multiple wins are: the Netherlands with three recipients, and Scotland and Belgium with two recipients each.

Winners edit

Key to score column
 †  – Indicates the match was decided by a replay
 *!  – Indicates the match went to penalty shoot-out
Alan Hardaker Trophy winners
Final Player Nationality Team Opponents Score
1990 Des Walker   England Nottingham Forest Oldham Athletic 1–0
1991 Nigel Pearson   England Sheffield Wednesday Manchester United 1–0
1992 Brian McClair   Scotland Manchester United Nottingham Forest 1–0
1993 Paul Merson   England Arsenal Sheffield Wednesday 2–1
1994 Kevin Richardson   England Aston Villa Manchester United 3–1
1995 Steve McManaman   England Liverpool Bolton Wanderers 2–1
1996 Andy Townsend   Ireland Aston Villa Leeds United 3–0
1997 Steve Walsh   England Leicester City Middlesbrough 1–1 †
1998 Dennis Wise   England Chelsea Middlesbrough 2–0
1999 Allan Nielsen   Denmark Tottenham Hotspur Leicester City 1–0
2000 Matt Elliott   Scotland Leicester City Tranmere Rovers 2–1
2001 Robbie Fowler   England Liverpool Birmingham City * 1–1 *
2002 Brad Friedel   United States Blackburn Rovers Tottenham Hotspur 2–1
2003 Jerzy Dudek   Poland Liverpool Manchester United 2–0
2004 Boudewijn Zenden   Netherlands Middlesbrough Bolton Wanderers 2–1
2005 John Terry   England Chelsea Liverpool 3–2
2006 Wayne Rooney   England Manchester United Wigan Athletic 4–0
2007 Didier Drogba   Ivory Coast Chelsea Arsenal 2–1
2008 Jonathan Woodgate   England Tottenham Hotspur Chelsea 2–1
2009 Ben Foster   England Manchester United Tottenham Hotspur * 0–0 *
2010 Antonio Valencia   Ecuador Manchester United Aston Villa 2–1
2011 Ben Foster (2)   England Birmingham City Arsenal 2–1
2012 Stewart Downing   England Liverpool Cardiff City * 2–2 *
2013 Nathan Dyer   England Swansea City Bradford City 5–0
2014 Samir Nasri   France Manchester City Sunderland 3–1
2015 John Terry (2)   England Chelsea Tottenham Hotspur 2–0
2016 Vincent Kompany   Belgium Manchester City Liverpool * 1–1 *
2017 Zlatan Ibrahimović   Sweden Manchester United Southampton 3–2
2018 Vincent Kompany (2)   Belgium Manchester City Arsenal 3–0
2019 Bernardo Silva   Portugal Manchester City Chelsea * 0–0 *
2020 Phil Foden   England Manchester City Aston Villa 2–1
2021 Riyad Mahrez   Algeria Manchester City Tottenham Hotspur 1–0
2022 Virgil van Dijk   Netherlands Liverpool Chelsea * 0–0 *
2023 Casemiro   Brazil Manchester United Newcastle United 2–0
2024 Virgil van Dijk (2)   Netherlands Liverpool Chelsea 1–0

Awards won by nationality edit

Country Win(s) Year(s)
  England 17 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2020
  Netherlands 3 2004, 2022, 2024
  Scotland 2 1992, 2000
  Belgium 2 2016, 2018
  Ireland 1 1996
  Denmark 1 1999
  United States 1 2002
  Poland 1 2003
  Ivory Coast 1 2007
  Ecuador 1 2010
  France 1 2014
  Sweden 1 2017
  Portugal 1 2019
  Algeria 1 2021
  Brazil 1 2023

Awards won by club edit

Club Win(s) Year(s)
Manchester City 6 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Manchester United 6 1992, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2023
Liverpool 6 1995, 2001, 2003, 2012, 2022, 2024
Chelsea 4 1998, 2005, 2007, 2015
Aston Villa 2 1994, 1996
Leicester City 2 1997, 2000
Tottenham Hotspur 2 1999, 2008
Nottingham Forest 1 1990
Sheffield Wednesday 1 1991
Arsenal 1 1993
Blackburn Rovers 1 2002
Middlesbrough 1 2004
Birmingham City 1 2011
Swansea City 1 2013

References edit

  1. ^ "Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners". Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2010. Football League, 26 February 2012
  2. ^ "The Alan Hardaker Trophy". EFL.com. English Football League. Retrieved 27 February 2023.