Welcome to the 2023/24 season awards! The second annual edition of the end-of-season awards begins, like last year, in France with Ligue 1. I won’t waste much more time, let’s hop straight into discussing the standouts. The Tom Starke Award: Best Goalkeeper Photo by SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP via Getty Images I have defied gods and demons.
The Tom Starke award is held by the hands of LOSC Lille’s Lucas Chevalier ! This award was perhaps the tightest of the lot, with RC Lens’ Brice Samba and OGC Nice’s Marcin Bułlka running the race close in terms of pure shot-stopping while Stade Brestois’ Marco Bizot being less impressive defensively but being by far the most impressive keeper in the league on the ball. Chevalier was the perfect marriage of the two sides of the modern goalkeeper this season, making a litany of great saves to bail out an inconsistent Lille defense while also being the base of the team’s build-up in the early stages. An all-around amazing performance that laid the foundations for his team’s fourth-place finish, Lille’s Angel of Mercy.
The Dante Award: Best Defender Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images I know you. For perhaps the only time ever, an award is given to its namesake. OGC Nice’s Dante is the recipient of his own award! Nice had one of the best defenses in all of Europe, and the man at the heart of it all is treble-winner and Bayern Munich alumnus Dante.
While Jean-Clair Todibo had more off-the-ball responsibilities and the fu.
