The 2025/26 FWA Awards: Why Bruno Fernandes and Bunny Shaw Broke the System

In One Sentence: Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes and Manchester City striker Khadija Bunny Shaw have been crowned the 2025/26 FWA Footballers of the Year after delivering historically dominant seasons that defied modern tactical expectations.

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Introduction

Welcome back to The AI-thletic. If you are a fan of our Deep Dive podcast, you will know we have been closely tracking the fascinating race for the Football Writers’ Association end of season honours. The voting is officially closed, and the results have sent shockwaves through the analytical football community. Today, we are breaking down exactly how two remarkable athletes completely bypassed the era of rigid positional play to claim the oldest and most prestigious individual awards in English football.

Quick Summary

Who won the 2025/26 FWA Footballer of the Year awards?

Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United won the men’s award, while Khadija Bunny Shaw of Manchester City won the women’s award. 123

What makes Bruno Fernandes winning the award so surprising to tacticians?

It is surprising because he operates as an agent of chaos in an era dominated by strict positional control, frequently bypassing safe passing networks to force high value attacking chances.

How dominant was Bunny Shaw this season?

She was absolutely lethal, scoring 19 goals in just 21 matches to lead Manchester City to their first Women’s Super League title in a decade.

5 Ways Fernandes and Shaw Rewrote the 2025/26 Season

1. Forcing the Geometry of the Pitch

Bruno Fernandes bends the geometry of the football pitch to his own will, bypassing the choreographed systems of modern football to create maximum output. Elite modern football over the last ten years has been entirely consumed by the philosophy of positional play, where possession is retained meticulously and risk is minimised. The Manchester United captain completely ignores this trend. He operates on pure instinct, frequently attempting low percentage passes that infuriate tactical purists but inevitably result in massive chance creation. He has created five or more chances in 14 different Premier League games this season, placing him in incredibly rare historical company alongside Mesut Ozil.

2. Relentless Goalscoring Dominance

Khadija Bunny Shaw has established total dominance in the Women’s Super League, securing her second FWA award through a relentless output of goals. The Jamaican striker secured a landslide victory in the voting after a historic campaign for Manchester City. While other players rely on complex tactical setups, Shaw functions as the ultimate apex predator in the penalty box. Her staggering return of 19 goals in 21 games not only secured the league title for her club but also put her on track for another Golden Boot. Arsenal’s Alessia Russo and Chelsea’s Lauren James finished second and third respectively, but neither could match Shaw’s sheer volume of decisive actions.

3. Creating Statistical Anomalies

The statistical footprint left by Fernandes this season is a genuine historical anomaly, as his individual involvements have directly swung 30 league points in favour of Manchester United. To put this into perspective, this is only the ninth time in the entire history of the Premier League that a single player has generated 30 points individually during a campaign. He is currently sitting on 19 Premier League assists, leaving him just one pass away from tying the all-time single-season record shared by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

4. Shouldering an Unprecedented Dual Burden

Fernandes shoulders an unprecedented tactical burden by functioning as both the primary architect and the primary executioner for his club. When we look at his Premier League career statistics, he recently hit 140 goal involvements for Manchester United, tying the exact number achieved by Cristiano Ronaldo. However, while Ronaldo’s output was heavily weighted toward finishing, Fernandes boasts a perfectly symmetrical split of 70 goals and 70 assists. This means he is simultaneously performing the roles of a traditional number nine and a traditional number ten, requiring a physical endurance that completely defies typical playmaker profiles.

5. Rejecting the Culture of Self Protection

The Portuguese midfielder actively rejects the highly sanitised public relations culture of modern sports, choosing instead to lead with raw and abrasive authenticity. In an era where athletes rely on brand managers to craft sterile apologies after a defeat, Fernandes exposes his genuine frustration on the pitch. He is visibly agitated, frequently arguing with referees, and publicly calling out the performative nature of modern kindness on social media. This confrontational style makes him a lightning rod for media criticism, but it effectively shields younger teammates like Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho from the spotlight.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who came second in the 2025/26 FWA Footballer of the Year voting?

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice finished as the runner-up in the men’s vote, falling just 28 votes short of the winner. In the women’s vote, Arsenal forward Alessia Russo finished in second place. Manchester City striker Erling Haaland secured third place in the men’s category.

When was the last time a Manchester United player won the FWA award?

Wayne Rooney was the last Manchester United player to win the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award back in 2010. Fernandes is the first player from the club to claim the honour in 16 years, capturing a massive 45 per cent of the overall vote.

Did Bruno Fernandes almost leave Manchester United?

The Manchester United captain received a massive financial offer from Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal, but he rejected the move to stay in England. He publicly stated that he did not want to leave the club in difficulty, cementing his status as a fiercely loyal figure to the match-going supporters.

Final Thoughts From Team At The AI-thletic

“We are witnessing a fascinating clash between aesthetic ideals and raw output. In a sport increasingly consumed by expected threat models, rest defence, and algorithmic control, the analytical community was ultimately forced to surrender to the sheer, undeniable reality of a player who thrives in unapologetic chaos. It is a defining victory for the maverick.”

3 discussion points to cover with your fellow sports fans:

1. Does the success of Bruno Fernandes prove that tactical rigidity and positional play are fundamentally flawed when a team lacks elite structural synergy?
2. How does Bunny Shaw’s incredible goal-scoring ratio compare to the greatest strikers in the history of the English women’s game?
3. Will we ever see another player achieve a perfectly symmetrical 50/50 split of 70 goals and 70 assists in the Premier League, or is this a unique product of Manchester United’s specific struggles?

If you enjoyed this breakdown, make sure to listen to the full audio experience. You can catch the latest episode of The AI-thletic Deep Dive podcast on Spotify or Apple Music right now!