Argentine Footballer of the Year explained

Argentine Footballer of the Year (Olimpia Award)
Current Awards:	-->
Awarded For:	Excellence in football
Date:	December
Location:	Buenos Aires
Country:	Argentina
Presenter:	Association of Sports Journalists of Argentina
Hosts:	-->
Winner:	or
Winners:	-->
Most Wins:	-->
Network List:	-->
Ratings:	-->
Image Caption:	Lionel Messi has won the award a record 16 times.

The Footballer of the Year of Argentina (in Spanish: Olimpia de Plata al Mejor Futbolista, that literally translates to "Silver Olimpia to the Best Footballer) is a yearly award given by the Argentine Sports Journalists' Circle (Círculo de Periodistas Deportivos de la República Argentina) as one of the Olimpia Awards, the most important sports award in Argentina.

The Olimpia is awarded in the sport of association football and, since 2008, is shared by the best player of the local league (who wins the Olimpia de Plata al Fútbol Local) and the best Argentine playing abroad (Olimpia de Plata al Fútbol del Exterior).

Up to 2008, the award was not shared, and was either given to the best player of Argentine nationality of the season (regardless if he plays in the local league or abroad), or to the best foreign footballer of the local league. It is unclear when Argentine footballers playing abroad and expatriate players in the country started being eligible. Mario Kempes in 1978 was the first Argentine to receive the award while playing abroad. Kempes was playing in the Spanish league for Valencia CF at the time, and had been a key player in the Argentina national team World Cup winning campaign of that year. On the other hand, Uruguayan Enzo Francescoli was the first foreign player to receive the award (in 1985, playing for River Plate).

Lionel Messi is the award's all-time record holder with sixteen wins, seven of which were in a row. He is also the current (2023) holder of the award.

Winners

All players and clubs are Argentine, unless otherwise noted.

	Year	width=150px	Player	width=120px	Club
1	1970
2	1971
3	1972
4	1973
5	1974
6	1975
7	1976
8	1977
9	1978
10	1979
11	1980
12	1981
13	1982
14	1983
15	1984
16	1985
17	1986
18	1987
19	1988
20	1989
21	1990
22	1991
23	1992
24	1993
25	1994
26	1995
27	1996
28	1997
29	1998
30	1999
31	2000
32	2001
33	2002
34	2003
35	2004
36	2005
37	2006
38	2007
39	2008
			Barcelona
40	2009
41	2010
42	2011	Román Riquelme^[1]
			Barcelona
43	2012	Lisandro López^[2]
44	2013	Maxi Rodríguez^[3]
45	2014	Lucas Pratto^[4]
46	2015	Marco Ruben^[5]
			Barcelona
47	2016
			Barcelona
48	2017
49	2018
50	2019
51	2020
52	2021		Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain
53	2022		Paris Saint-Germain
54	2023		Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami

Most wins

Player	Wins
Lionel Messi
Diego Maradona
Juan Román Riquelme
Juan Sebastián Verón
Carlos Tevez
Enzo Francescoli

See also

• Olimpia Award

External links

• Premios Olimpia at the Círculo de Periodistas Deportivos
• Argentina - Player of the Year at the RSSSF

Notes and References

1. Circulo de Periodistas Deportivos: Noticias . Referenced 27 December 2011.
2. Web site: Messi obtuvo el premio Olimpia de plata. Goal.com. 4 December 2021.
3. News: . Maidana es de oro. Maidana is the gold. dead. Olé. es. Clarín Group. 18 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20180930230301/https://www.ole.com.ar/fuera-de-juego/Maidana-oro_0_1049895010.html. 30 September 2018. 9 December 2021.
4. Web site: Lucas Pratto y Ángel Di María ganaron el Olimpia de plata . Goal.com. 4 December 2021.
5. Web site: Bruja-salguero-bazan – Radio Nacional . 2015-12-25 . 2020-10-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201025152019/http://www.radionacional.com.ar/la-bruja-salguero-visito-a-osvaldo-bazan/bruja-salguero-bazan/ . dead .