25 Sept 2026

Sofascore Player of the Season Award: Vitinha (Ligue 1)

Vitinha stood outside the Parc des Princes with his Sofascore Player of the Season trophy, the Paris Saint-Germain crest framing him from above. The Portuguese midfielder closed out the Ligue 1 season with a Sofascore Rating of 7.58, and this trophy adds to what has become one of the most decorated stretches of his career.

A trophy built on the numbers

The Sofascore Player of the Season Award is not decided by opinion or reputation, it comes purely from performance data tracked match after match across an entire season. That is exactly why it stands out for a player like Vitinha, whose value has always shown up in how he controls games rather than in flashy end product.

The numbers backed it up clearly. Vitinha provided 7 assists for Paris Saint-Germain across the Ligue 1 season, creating 8 big chances while completing an outstanding 94 percent of his passes. He was also named to the Team of the Week 6 times, a clear reflection of how central he remained to PSG’s title-winning campaign.

A season that keeps paying off

The trophy sits alongside a season that delivered far more than domestic silverware. PSG defended their UEFA Champions League title, with Vitinha central to their run all the way to the final, and he has since been named among the 30 nominees for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, one of a record 10 PSG players on the shortlist. The winner will be announced in London on October 26, and whatever happens there, this Sofascore trophy already stands as proof of the consistency behind his season.

Trophy that has gone far beyond one league

The trophy also lands as part of something bigger. More than 30 players have now sent in photos with the Sofascore Player of the Season trophy this season alone, and for the first time, that list includes at least one name from every one of Europe’s top five leagues.

Vitinha joins Lamine Yamal from LaLiga, Bruno Fernandes from the Premier League, Manuel Locatelli from Serie A, and Michael Olise from the Bundesliga, alongside major names like Rúben Neves in Saudi Arabia and Akram Afif in Qatar. From the very top of the sport to leagues that rarely make headlines, the same trophy keeps showing up in the same kind of photo, held by players who all seem to value exactly the same thing: a season measured in data, not opinion.

Why it matters

For fans, the Sofascore Player of the Season Award is a reminder that ratings are not just numbers on a screen, they represent real performances tracked and earned over an entire season. For Vitinha, this trophy is one more marker of a year that has put him among the very best midfielders in the world.