‘I don’t know why I got the trophy’: football’s unusual player-of-the-match awards

(Clockwise from top left) Zinedine Zidane for France v Denmark in 2002, Yann Sommer for Inter v Barcelona in 2025, Pavel Nedved for Czech Republic v Netherlands in 2000, Alexandra Popp for Germany v South Korea in 2023, Kai Havertz for Germany v Costa Rica in 2022.Composite: Getty, Reuters“The Inter keeper Yann Sommer was named player of the match against Barcelona despite conceding three goals. He made some great saves so it wasn’t undeserved, but I wondered if there were other unus