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Bruno Fernandes and ‘Bunny’ Shaw win soccer writers’ awards in England

LONDON (AP) — Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes was voted as footballer of the year in England by soccer writers, while Manchester City striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw won the women’s award for a second time on Friday.

Fernandes captured the accolade handed out by the Football Writers’ Association near the end of a season when he has made 19 assists for United in the Premier League — one off the record — and helped the team get back in the Champions League.

The Portugal midfielder finished ahead of Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, taking 45% of the votes from the FWA membership of more than 900.

He is the first Man United player since Wayne Rooney in 2010 to win the award, which has been running since 1947 to make it the oldest individual soccer award in the world.

Shaw beat Arsenal’s Alessia Russo and Chelsea’s Lauren James to the award after leading Man City to its first Women’s Super League title in 10 years with a division-high 19 goals in 21 games.

Shaw also won it in 2024.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

NYPD says dozens rescued from human trafficking during World Cup

▶ Watch Video: Inside look at security preparations for World Cup Forty-three people, including seven minors, were rescued from human traffickers during the World Cup matches in the New York City area, according to the New York City Police Department's Special Victims Unit.The rescue operations were carried out between June 11 and July 19 by specialized NYPD detectives who arrested 89 individuals."The surprise was really the outpouring of support behind the mission and the collaboration with all our partners," said Inspector Gary Marcus, commanding officer of the Special Victims Unit.Those rescued, largely the victims of sex trafficking, are now being supported with an array of social services for the victims, including food, housing and counseling.The 87 operations carried out during the World Cup have generated new leads, officials said, and law enforcement agencies are building more cases based on the investigations already underway."We have ongoing investigations now as a result of these operations," an NYPD official told CBS News.Major sporting events are known to law enforcement as hotbeds of human trafficking.Years in advance, the NYPD devoted significant resources to preparing for the World Cup. Eight matches were played at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, including the final on Sunday."When we talk about the outreach and the prep we do, a large part of that involved visiting the known sex offenders, particularly the known human traffickers, in our registry," Marcus said. "Whether they're on parole or probation for human trafficking, we visited them to make sure they're compliant with the terms of their release, and secondly, to let them know that the NYPD is watching."The matches were held in multiple cities around the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Preparations to secure those games and prepare for crimes like human trafficking were coordinated between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.Police departments in many locations that hosted World Cup matches have made arrests and rescues connected to human trafficking, including in Georgia, New England and Missouri. Nationally, there were more than 673 arrests on human-trafficking charges made during the World Cup, and 61 adults and 13 minors rescued, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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