Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

award given by ''

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

'' and the

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and for women – and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in Solna and is a ...

to the best male Swedish footballer each year.

History

The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and between 1946 and 1965 it was awarded in cooperation with ''

Stockholms-Tidningen ''Stockholms-Tidningen'' () was a Swedish-language morning newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1889 and 1984 with an interruption from 1966 to 1981. It was one of the major dailies in the country together with ''Dagens Nyheter'' and ...

''. The first Guldbollen award was given in 1946 to

Gunnar Gren Johan Gunnar Gren (; 31 October 1920 – 10 November 1991) was a Swedish professional association football, football player and coach. He is best remembered for playing for IFK Göteborg and AC Milan. A second striker, creative forward, known f ...

. In 1973,

Bo Larsson Bo-Göran "Bosse" Larsson (5 May 1944 – 18 December 2023) was a Swedish professional footballer who played as a midfielder and striker. Best remembered for his time with Malmö FF, he also represented VfB Stuttgart and Trelleborgs FF during ...

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

became the first player to win the award for a second time, having previously won it in 1965.

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association footba ...

is the only player to win the award more than twice, winning it twelve times between 2005 and 2020. The female equivalent of the award,

Diamantbollen Diamantbollen, Swedish for the ''Diamond Ball'', an annual award for Sweden's best female football player. The award is currently awarded by the Swedish Football Association and Sydsvenskans newspaper, in conjunction with its male equivalent, ''Gu ...

, was established in 1990. Both Guldbollen and Diamantbollen are now awarded at the

Fotbollsgalan Fotbollsgalan is an official and annual Swedish sports awards ceremony honoring achievements in Swedish football. It is organised by Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of football ...

Winners

Source:

By club

References

External links

{{National Footballer of the Year 1946 establishments in Sweden European football trophies and awards Awards established in 1946 Football in Sweden Swedish sports trophies and awards Annual events in Sweden