Wayne Rooney Wins England Player of the Year Award for 2009

England star Wayne Rooney has today been named as the winner of the England Player of the Year award for 2009.

Rooney retains the award, having also won it for the 2008 calendar year.

The award is voted for by England fans on the official FA website, which today revealed that the Manchester United man triumphed with almost 40 percent of the vote.

Rooney scored six goals in his nine appearances for the Three Lions in 2009, netting braces in the home games against Slovakia and Andorra.

The Manchester United forward also scored in big qualifying wins over Kazakhstan and Croatia, as he finished second top-scorer in the European qualifying section with nine goals.

He also captained his country for the very first time in the friendly against Brazil last November.

On winning the prize, Rooney thanked the England fans for their support and is quoted on the FA website as stating, “It’s a great honour that the fans have voted for me for a second time.

“I’ve always given everything for my country and it’s nice to know the fans appreciate your performances.”

Rooney looked back on 2009 as a “very positive” year for the Three Lions during which they secured qualification to the World Cup in South Africa and “put in some really promising team performances.”

Whilst reflecting on a successful year both personally and as a team, Rooney also looked forward to the summer, hoping that England can “get better and better this year, most importantly of all at the World Cup.”

Bleacher Report readers also voted for Rooney as their England Player of the Year on this unofficial poll , where the forward received just more than half of all votes cast.

Rooney joins Frank Lampard in being the only player to win the award twice and also in consecutive years in the short time the prize has been running.

Previous Nationwide England Players of the Year

2009  Wayne Rooney

2008  Wayne Rooney

2007  Steven Gerrard

2006  Owen Hargreaves

2005  Frank Lampard

2004  Frank Lampard

2003  David Beckham