Man City squad could block Phil Foden or Rodri from winning PFA POTY award due to little-known rule

The Manchester City squad could theoretically prevent Phil Foden, Erling Haaland or Rodri from being named as the men's PFA Player of the Year due to a little-known rule.

The PFA men's and women's awards take place at the Manchester Opera House on Tuesday evening, with Haaland, Foden and Rodri three of the six nominees to win the major men's award.

Martin Odegaard, Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins are the other three nominees.

The main women's award, meanwhile, is dominated by Chelsea and City, with Niamh Charles, Erin Cuthbert and Lauren James named from the Blues alongside Lauren Hemp, Khadija Shaw and Yui Hasegawa from City.

James and Palmer are the only two players to be nominated for both Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards this season.

While the women's award is voted for by members of the PFA, the men's award is voted for by players from all four of the top divisions.

For the Team of the Year awards, though, only players from each respective division are able to vote - meaning there can be a discrepancy between the nominees for each award.

But there is one little-known rule that could stop one team's players from winning the award entirely - although it is very unlikely to ever be breached.

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The regulations state the following (via The Athletic): "A player is only entitled to receive an award providing that the players at their own club have participated in the ballot."

As a result, therefore, City players would have to boycott the vote entirely for their team-mates to not be eligible for an award - something you'd struggle to envisage any team doing.

Indeed, there is no evidence of this occurring since the award was founded in 1974.

Foden and Rodri are the two clear favourites to win the men's award after helping City to the Premier League title for a fourth consecutive year under Pep Guardiola.