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 Award The Olimpia Awards ( es, Premios Olimpia) are Argentine sports awards given annually by the ' (Association of Sports Journalists) since 1954. An ' (Silver Olimpia) is awarded to the outstanding performer in 41 sports. Among the ' winners an ' ...

s, the most important sports award in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. The ''Olimpia'' is awarded in the sport of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

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,

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of ...

was the first foreign player to receive the award (in 1985, playing for River Plate).

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the g ...

is the award's all-time record holder with fourteen wins, seven of which were in a row. He is also the current (2021) holder of the award.

Winners

All players and clubs are Argentine, unless otherwise noted.

Most wins

References

External links

Premios Olimpia
at the Círculo de Periodistas Deportivos

at the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

{{Football in Argentina Association football player of the year awards by nationality Footballers in Argentina Awards established in 1970 1970 establishments in Argentina Argentine awards Annual sporting events in Argentina Association football player non-biographical articles