Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw Wins Second PFA Player of the Year Award
Khadija "Bunny" Shaw has been named the PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year, collecting the award for the second time in three seasons (BBC Sport).
The Manchester City forward topped a vote decided entirely by her fellow professionals — the players she faces every week in the Women's Super League, England's top flight of women's football. Winning once is a statement. Winning twice, in the space of three seasons, puts Shaw in rare company.
Her case this time around was built on goals. Shaw scored 21 times in 22 league matches, more than anyone else in the division (BBC Sport). That is nearly a goal a game across a full campaign, a ratio that holds up in any league, men's or women's.
The PFA award is not handed out by a panel of pundits or a committee of executives. It is voted on by the players themselves, which is why it carries a particular weight in the game. To be picked by the people you compete against is a different kind of compliment.
Shaw, known universally as "Bunny," had already collected the Football Writers' Association Women's Footballer of the Year award in May, a separate honour voted on by journalists (BBC Sport). Adding the players' vote means she has now swept both major individual awards of the season.
She first won the PFA prize for the 2023/24 campaign, when the Professional Footballers' Association announced her as the standout in the women's game (The PFA). That she has reclaimed the title so soon after speaks to a player operating at a level that her peers find impossible to ignore.
For casual followers of the women's game, Shaw's name is one worth knowing. The Jamaica international has been the attacking heartbeat of a Manchester City side that challenges for honours every season, combining physical presence with a finisher's instinct that makes her dangerous from almost anywhere inside the box.
What stands out about this award is the double recognition. When the writers and the players reach the same conclusion, it is usually because a season has been too good to argue with. Shaw's 21 goals and her second PFA title in three years make a hard case to dispute.
