Gareth Bale rounded off a remarkable season at Tottenham by doing the double at the PFA Player of the Year awards on this day in 2013.
Bale beat off competition from Luis Suarez, Robin van Persie, Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Michael Carrick to win the senior prize for the 2012-13 campaign.
The Wales forward also took home the Young Player of the Year accolade, making him only the third player in history – after Andy Gray and Cristiano Ronaldo – to receive both prizes in the same season.
“It’s a massive honour,” Bale said.
“To be voted by your peers is one of the biggest things in the game. It’s great to win it and I am delighted.”
Ronaldo scooped both the young player and the main award in 2007, 30 years after Gray become the first professional to do so.
Bale claimed the senior award two years earlier after shooting to fame with a series of scintillating displays domestically and in the Champions League.
He went on to become an even better player, transforming himself into a goal-scoring machine that netted 31 goals in 52 appearances for club and country in 2012-13 before landing a world-record £85.3million move to Real Madrid that summer.
Bale became one of British football’s most decorated players at Real, winning five Champions Leagues including scoring twice in the 2018 final victory over Liverpool, before retiring in January 2023 following a stint in the United States.