Olympique Lyonnais striker Ada Hegerberg has today been named 2015-16's Best Player in Europe by UEFA.

After a tremendous season - which resulted in three titles; the French Cup, the French league and the Champions League - it was no surprise that the young Norwegian would be in the running for the award.

She was up against good competition however. Her former teammate Amandine Henry, who is now at NWSL outfit Portland Thorns, was also a part of the successful Lyon team who took home the treble.

Dzsenifer​ Marozsan played last season with 1. FFC Frankfurt in the German league, and was a big part of the Germany team who were recently crowned Olympic champions after defeating Sweden 2-1 in the final - a final Marozsan had a huge part in.

Young forward takes home the prize

With 54 goals in 34 games for Lyon last season, including becoming top scorer in the Champions League with 13, Hegerberg elevated herself to the absolute top of European football. One of these goals was the opening goal in the Champions League final, which Lyon won. For Norway she has scored six in six in her countries pursuit of reaching the UEFA Women's EURO in the Netherlands in 2017 too

This is Hegerberg's first nomination for the award, but she is no stranger to success. Earlier this year, she was named Norway’s best footballer, and became the first woman to win this award in 20 years.

In 2015 she was nominated as the best young player at the World Cup in 2015, but eventually lost to Canada’s Kadeisha Buchanan.

In 2013, at the age of 19, she was an integral part of the Norwegian squad who finished second at the European Championships.

Ada Hegerberg celebrates with her Lyon teammates after scoring the opening goal in last season's Champions League final. Source: Stefano Rellandina / Reuters
Ada Hegerberg celebrates with her Lyon teammates after scoring the opening goal in last season's Champions League final. (Source: Stefano Rellandina / Reuters)

On winning the award, Hegerberg said it was a huge honour to stand there with the trophy, and that she was very pleased before joking that she probably wouldn’t hit 60 goals next season, when the host asked her.

She did however state that she hoped to continue her development and win more trophies with Lyon. They have the same ambitions as last year.  

The award has been given out four times, and the list of previous winners included Célia Šašić, Nadine Keßler and Nadine Angerer. This is therefore the first time the award hasn’t been taken home by a German. 

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