El País King of European Soccer

El País King of European Soccer (alternative: El País European Player of the Year) was an annual soccer award given by Uruguayan newspaper El País to the best soccer player in Europe. It had been decided by several European sports experts, critics and journalists based on votes. Any player from a European team was eligible, regardless their country of origin. It was first awarded in 1991 with French Jean-Pierre Papin having been the inaugural winner. The last winner was Argentine Lionel Messi in 2012. Lionel Messi and French Zinedine Zidane are the record winners of the award with four wins each.[1] Messi also holds the record for most consecutive wins (four in a row, 2009–12).[2][3]

Lionel Messi is the all-time record winner of the prize with 4 wins, alongside Zinedine Zidane. Messi is also the only player to win it 4 consecutive times (2009-12).
Zinedine Zidane has won the award a record 4 times, shared only with Lionel Messi.

Winners
Year Player Club
1991 Jean-Pierre Papin Olympique de Marseille
1992 Marco van Basten A.C. Milan
1993 Roberto Baggio Juventus F.C.
1994 Paolo Maldini A.C. Milan
1995 George Weah Paris Saint-Germain F.C. / A.C. Milan
1996 Ronaldo PSV Eindhoven / FC Barcelona
1997 Ronaldo FC Barcelona / Inter Milan
1998 Zinedine Zidane Juventus F.C.
1999 Rivaldo FC Barcelona
2000 Luís Figo FC Barcelona / Real Madrid C.F.
2001 Michael Owen Liverpool F.C.
2002 Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid C.F.
2003 Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid C.F.
2004 Ronaldinho FC Barcelona
2005 Ronaldinho FC Barcelona
2006 Ronaldinho FC Barcelona
2007 Kaká A.C. Milan
2008 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United F.C.
2009 Lionel Messi FC Barcelona
2010 Lionel Messi FC Barcelona
2011 Lionel Messi FC Barcelona
2012 Lionel Messi FC Barcelona

Christiano ronaldo is not in the list

Consecutive wins
  • Lionel Messi is the only player in history to win the award in 4 consecutive years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012).
  • Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho won the award in 3 successive years (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, 2005, 2006, respectively).
  • Brazilian Ronaldo won the award twice in a row (1996, 1997).

See also

References
  1. "Messi and Del Bosque crowned the 'Kings of Europe' | English". AS.com. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  2. "Messi, 'King of Europe' for the fourth time - MARCA.com (English version)". marca.com. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  3. "European Player and Team of the Year". rsssf.com. Retrieved 2018-07-21.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.