The closest ever WAB Brighton Sexiest Player of the Season vote saw only 1.08 percent separate the top three as Olivier Boscagli did just about enough to clinch the award.
Where do you even start with Boscagli? He ticks so many boxes. Lovely hair. Great moustache. French accent. No wonder the Albion spent over 12 months pursuing him, including a series of bids rejected by PSV Eindhoven in 2024 before Olivier Boscagli signed for Brighton on a free last summer.
The patience the Albion showed to wait that long for Boscalgi tells you how highly rated he was by the recruitment team and the algorithms.
Fabian Hurzeler has not necessarily shared that opinion. Hurzeler stuck almost religiously to a centre back partnership of Jan Paul van Hecke and Lewis Dunk. Even when Dunk was out-of-form at the start of the season and Van Hecke at the end.
Neither Boscagli or Diego Coppola put a foot wrong on the rare occasions they came into the starting XI. Yet they spent most of the season on the bench.
Boscagli made just 12 Premier League appearances in 2025-26 – nine starts and three from the bench. The only way Albion fans could guarantee seeing his luscious locks and handsome features was by travelling to places like Oxford and Barnsley in the Carabao Cup.
Hopefully, Hurzeler sees fit to play Boscalgi more in 2026-27. Because he always looks fantastic. Oh, and he is a decent defender too.
Olivier Boscalgi stops Ferdi Kadioglu doing a famous WAB Brighton Awards double
Boscagli being crowned Sexiest Player of the Season prevented Ferdi Kadioglu from completing a famous double. Having been voted WAB Player of the Season 2025-26, Kadioglu was just 0.54 percent behind Boscagli in the Sexiest Player category.
Only once before has somebody won both awards in the same season. Inigo Calderon way back in the largely terrible 2014-15 Championship campaign.
Kadioglu has been a strong candidate in this category ever since he rocked up wearing an all-white linen suit for his unveiling as an Albion player at the Amex when Brighton thrashed Crawley Town 4-0 in the Carabao Cup last season.
Looking as dashing as Kadioglu does is one thing. But to combine it with the sort of fashion style rarely seen outside of an episode of Michael Portillo’s Great Continental Railway Journeys is a double whammy of good looks and fantastic dress sense.
Runners up spot represents a one-place improvement for Kadioglu compared to his third place finish in WAB Sexiest Player of the Season 2024-25. Maybe 2026-27 will be his year? Slow and steady (eventually) wins the race and all that.
Incidentally, last season’s winner Matt O’Riley could only finish fifth this time. A bad season for him all round, with the loan spell at Marseille cut short after only halfway through and then barely featuring for Brighton once recalled.
Another top three finish for consistent Joel Veltman
Joel Veltman took third, only 0.54 percent behind Kadioglu and with 1.08 percent less of the vote than Boscagli. Veltman is remarkably consistent when it comes to WAB Sexiest Player of the Season with this his fifth successive top three finish.
He was runner up to O’Riley last season having been an extremely popular winner in 2023-24, ending several years of always the bridesmaid, never the bride to Robert Sanchez (before he became a twat) and Levi Colwill.
Hopefully, this is not the last time we see Veltman competing for WAB Sexiest Player of the Season. His contract expires at the end of June and although Brighton have said they are in talks with the suave and sophisticated Dutchman over a new deal, Veltman could find himself third choice right back in 2026-27 behind Mats Wieffer and new signing Costinha.
Even with the Albion playing Conference League football next season, that would severely limit his game time. Hopefully, Veltman knowing Seagulls supporters find him a very attractive man might convince him to stick around for a seventh season as a Brighton player.
WeAreBrighton.com Sexiest Player of the Season 2025-26 – The Results
Oliver Boscagli – 21.08%
Ferdi Kadioglu – 20.54%
Joel Veltman – 20.00%
Solly March – 17.29%
Matt O’Riley – 15.67%
Igor Julio – 5.40%
Previous Winners: Matt O’Riley (2025). Joel Veltman (2024). Levi Colwill (2023). Robert Sanchez (2022, 2021). Maty Ryan (2020, 2018). Bruno (2019). Shane Duffy (2017). Inigo Calderon (2016, 2015). Andrea Orlandi (2014, 2013). Vicente (2012).
About the Author
WeAreBrighton.com have been covering the Albion since the start of the 2009-10 season, back when the Seagulls were a struggling League One outfit playing in front of less than 8,000 fans every week at Withdean Stadium.
It has grown into the most popular fan-run Albion news site with multiple nominations at the Football Content Awards. WAB is also the leading unofficial Brighton social media channel with over 125,000 followers across various platforms.