El País King of European Soccer

El País King of European Soccer (alternative: El País European Player of the Year) was an annual football award given by Uruguayan newspaper El País to the best footballer 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. Messi and Zinedine Zidane are the record winners of the award with four wins each.^[1]

Winners

Source:^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]

Year	Rank	Player	Club	Points
1991	1st	Jean-Pierre Papin	Marseille	—

1992	1st	Marco van Basten	AC Milan	—

1993	1st	Roberto Baggio	Juventus	—
1993	2nd	Paolo Maldini^[14]	AC Milan	—

1994	1st	Paolo Maldini	AC Milan	—
1994	2nd	Hristo Stoichkov^[15]	Barcelona	—

1995	1st	George Weah	AC Milan	—
1995	2nd	Paolo Maldini^[16]	AC Milan	—

1996	1st	Ronaldo	Barcelona	—

1997	1st	Ronaldo	Inter Milan	—

1998	1st	Zinedine Zidane	Juventus	—

1999	1st	Rivaldo	Barcelona	75
	2nd	David Beckham	Manchester United	44
	3rd	Luís Figo	Barcelona	23

2000	1st	Luís Figo	Real Madrid	45
	2nd	Zinedine Zidane	Juventus	40
	3rd	Alessandro Nesta	Lazio	30

2001	1st	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	41
	2nd	Michael Owen	Liverpool	40
	3rd	Raúl	Real Madrid	36

2002	1st	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	59
	2nd	Roberto Carlos	Real Madrid	43
	3rd	Oliver Kahn	Bayern Munich	34

2003	1st	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	45
	2nd	Pavel Nedvěd	Juventus	38
	3rd	Roberto Carlos	Real Madrid	31

2004	1st	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	—
	2nd	Thierry Henry	Arsenal	—
	3rd	Pavel Nedvěd	Juventus	—

2005	1st	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	59
	2nd	Frank Lampard	Chelsea	33
	3rd	John Terry	Chelsea	24

2006	1st	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	54
	2nd	Fabio Cannavaro	Real Madrid	43
	3rd	Thierry Henry	Arsenal	35

2007	1st	Kaká	AC Milan	—
	2nd	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	—
	3rd	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	—

2008	1st	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	64
	2nd	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	57
	3rd	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	—

2009	1st	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	—

2010	1st	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	—

2011	1st	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	—

2012	1st	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	108
	2nd	Andrés Iniesta	Barcelona	93
	3rd	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	9

Zinedine Zidane (left) and Lionel Messi hold the record for the most wins, with 4 each.

Most wins by player

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).

European Coach of the Year

Year	Rank	Player	Team	Points
1991	1st	Michel Platini	France	—

1992	1st	Johan Cruyff	Barcelona	—

1993	1st	Johan Cruyff	Barcelona	—

1994	1st	Johan Cruyff	Barcelona	—

1995	1st	Louis van Gaal	Ajax	—

1996	1st	Marcello Lippi	Juventus	—

1997	1st	Marcello Lippi	Juventus	—

1998	1st	Marcello Lippi	Juventus	—

1999	1st	Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	35
	2nd	Louis van Gaal	Barcelona	17
	3rd	Sven-Göran Eriksson	Lazio	14

2000	1st	Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	—

2001	1st	Ottmar Hitzfeld	Bayern Munich	—

2002	1st	Arsène Wenger	Arsenal	30
	2nd	Vicente del Bosque	Real Madrid	28
	3rd	Klaus Toppmöller	Bayer Leverkusen	24

2003	1st	Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	25
	2nd	Fabio Capello	Roma	24
	2nd	Marcello Lippi	Juventus	24

2004	1st	José Mourinho	Porto Chelsea	—
	2nd	Arsène Wenger	Arsenal	—
	3rd	Fabio Capello	Roma Juventus	—
	3rd	Otto Rehhagel	Greece

2005	1st	José Mourinho	Chelsea	48
	2nd	Rafael Benítez	Liverpool	32
	2nd	Fabio Capello	Juventus	32

2006	1st	José Mourinho	Chelsea	46
2006	2nd	Frank Rijkaard	Barcelona	43

2007	1st	Arsène Wenger	Arsenal	—
2007	2nd	Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	—

2008	1st	Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	—

2012	1st	Vicente del Bosque	Spain	—
	2nd	José Mourinho	Real Madrid	—
	3rd	Pep Guardiola	Barcelona	—

Team of the Year

At least in some years El País also selected a Team of the Year.^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20]

Year	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
1993	Peter Schmeichel	Paolo Maldini Lothar Matthäus Jürgen Kohler Albert Ferrer	Michael Laudrup Dennis Bergkamp Hristo Stoichkov	Ryan Giggs Romário Roberto Baggio
1994	Michel Preud'homme	Paolo Maldini Fernando Couto Jorginho	Gheorghe Hagi Hristo Stoichkov Tomas Brolin Andrei Kanchelskis	Romário Roberto Baggio Michael Laudrup
1995	Peter Schmeichel	Paolo Maldini Franco Baresi Matthias Sammer	Alessandro Del Piero Fernando Hierro Jari Litmanen Paulo Sousa Dejan Savićević	Marc Overmars George Weah
1999	Oliver Kahn	Roberto Carlos Jaap Stam Lilian Thuram	Rivaldo Juan Sebastián Verón Luís Figo David Beckham	Christian Vieri Andriy Shevchenko Gabriel Batistuta

References

^ "Messi and Del Bosque crowned the 'Kings of Europe' | English". AS.com. 30 December 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018.
^ "European Player and Team of the Year". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player, Team and Coach of the Year 1999". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player of the Year 2000". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player of the Year 2001". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player and Coach of the Year 2002". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player and Coach of the Year 2003". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player and Coach of the Year 2004". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player and Coach of the Year 2005". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player and Coach of the Year 2006". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player and Coach of the Year 2007". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "European Player and Coach of the Year 2008". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "Messi and Del Bosque crowned the 'Kings of Europe' | English | AS.com". 21 July 2018. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "Edición 1993". EL PAIS. 24 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
^ "Edición 1994". EL PAIS. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
^ "Edición 1995". EL PAIS. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
^ "Edición 1993". EL PAIS. 24 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
^ "European Player, Team and Coach of the Year 1999". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
^ "Edición 1994". EL PAIS. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
^ "Edición 1995". EL PAIS. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

External links

Original edition site: https://www.elpais.com.uy/
English edition site: https://elpais.com/elpais/inenglish.html

[as-1] "Messi and Del Bosque crowned the 'Kings of Europe' | English". AS.com. 30 December 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018.

[2] "European Player and Team of the Year". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[3] "European Player, Team and Coach of the Year 1999". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[4] "European Player of the Year 2000". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[5] "European Player of the Year 2001". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[6] "European Player and Coach of the Year 2002". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[7] "European Player and Coach of the Year 2003". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[8] "European Player and Coach of the Year 2004". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[9] "European Player and Coach of the Year 2005". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[10] "European Player and Coach of the Year 2006". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[11] "European Player and Coach of the Year 2007". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[12] "European Player and Coach of the Year 2008". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[13] "Messi and Del Bosque crowned the 'Kings of Europe' | English | AS.com". 21 July 2018. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[14] "Edición 1993". EL PAIS. 24 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

[15] "Edición 1994". EL PAIS. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

[16] "Edición 1995". EL PAIS. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

[17] "Edición 1993". EL PAIS. 24 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

[18] "European Player, Team and Coach of the Year 1999". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

[19] "Edición 1994". EL PAIS. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

[20] "Edición 1995". EL PAIS. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2025.

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El País King of European Soccer

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