Bulinews Player of the Season Awards: Union Berlin’s Player of the Season

In one of the most varied voting polls of all Bundesliga clubs, Frederik Rønnow emerged as 1.FC Union Berlin’s player of the season with 3 nominations.

Union Berlin looked to be in a spot of trouble around the midway point in the season until a string of positive results towards the final third of fixtures allayed any relegation fears. Things didn’t really work out for Bo Svensson in the end, but Steffen Baumgart managed to steady the Köpenick ship from January onwards.

Behind that string of positive results which saw Die Eisernen lose just one game since early March, was Frederik Rønnow in goals. The Danish shot-stopper has become somewhat of a fans favourite in recent seasons and proved his worth once again this campaign with 8 clean sheets in 28 appearances.

At 32 years of age, Rønnow is entering his prime years as a goalkeeper and continues to marshal the Union Berlin backline with a confident demeanour. He claims crosses with ease more often than not, boasts strong reflexes and positions himself well for shot-stopping.

STANDOUT PERFORMANCE:

Frederik Rønnow’s highlight of the season came on Matchday 10 in a scoreless stalemate with SC Freiburg. The Dane was required to rescue his side in the 22nd-minute as Rani Khedira pulled down Junior Adamu in the box. Ronnow had to be alert to Vincenzo Grifo’s short penalty run up and guessed correctly to repel the penalty.

Two further saves followed – one down the centre and another destined for the lower-left corner – which kept parity between the sides. Rønnow was called into action for the final time as Eren Dinkci set up Lucas Höler whose effort was smothered by the Köpenick shot-stopper on 82 minutes to secure the point.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

A handful of other Union Berlin players picked up nominations, including 38-year-old Christopher Trimmel who continues to impress despite his vintage. The Austrian full-back claimed two votes as he provided 3 assists in 26 games. Tom Rothe scored 3 and set up 3 on his maiden season for the Berlin club, while Benedict Hollerbach found the net 9 times. Andrej Ilic also bagged a vote despite just 16 appearances where he still found the net 7 times.