Arsenal Shine at the 2025 PFA Awards
Arsenal enjoyed a dominant evening at the 2025 Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Awards, with both the men’s and women’s teams heavily represented among the winners. The Gunners saw their stars collect top individual prizes and multiple places in the Teams of the Year, confirming their strong impact on English football last season.
PFA Players’ Player of the Year
Spanish forward Mariona Caldentey capped off a superb first year at Arsenal by being named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year. Mariona registered nine goals and five assists in the top-flight.
She scored 19 goals in all competitions, including seven in the Women’s Champions League, where she helped the Gunners lift the trophy for the first time in 18 years. Caldentey also played a key role in Spain’s run to the Euro 2025 final, further proving her status as one of the world’s best. She becomes only thethird Arsenal player to claim this award, following Kim Little in 2013 and Vivianne Miedema in 2019.
PFA Young Player of the Year
There was more joy for the Gunners as Canadian forward Olivia Smith was crowned PFA Young Player of the Year. The 21-year-old joined Arsenal this summer in a record £1 million move from Liverpool, making her the most expensive female footballer in history. Last season, she scored nine of Liverpool’s 22 league goals, showing her remarkable ability in front of goal. Her peers recognised her influence and maturity by voting her the league’s top young talent. Smith now joins Leah Williamson as the only Arsenal players to have received this honour.
PFA Women’s Super League Team of the Year
Arsenal also had the most representatives in the PFA Women’s Super League Team of the Year, with Emily Fox, Kim Little, Alessia Russo, and Caldentey all included. Russo finished the 2024/25 WSL season as joint top scorer in the WSL with 12 goals.
Fox impressed as one of the league’s standout full-backs, deemed the best right-back of the year during 21 WSL matches and 14 Champions League fixtures.
Little, Arsenal’s captain, continued to show her consistency and leadership, earning her fourth inclusion in the PFA’s best XI. Little made 14 Champions League appearances as well as 20 in the WSL, scoring twice and providing five assists across those competitions.
PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
On the men’s side, Declan Rice, William Saliba, and Gabriel Magalhães all made the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Rice enjoyed another outstanding campaign in midfield, contributing four goals and seven assists as Arsenal finished second in the Premier League and reached the Champions League semi-finals.
Saliba and Gabriel, meanwhile, were rocks in defence. Gabriel, whose season was cut short in April by a hamstring injury, was part of a back line that conceded just 34 goals, the fewest for a second season in a row.
The Frenchman helped us keep 18 clean sheets in the league, five more than the second-highest sides.
Saliba’s inclusion is particularly special, as it marks his third straight appearance in the PFA Team of the Year, a feat not achieved by an Arsenal player since Thierry Henry.
Although Liverpool, the Premier League champions, had the most men’s players selected (five in total), Arsenal’s presence across both awards ceremonies underlined the club’s growing strength in both the men’s and women’s game.
With Caldentey and Smith scooping the top women’s honours, and Rice, Saliba, and Gabriel earning recognition among the men, Arsenal can look back on the 2024/25 season as one of significant progress. Their dominance at the PFA Awards reflects a club heading firmly in the right direction, with players at the very top of English football.