Portuguese Golden Ball


The Portuguese Golden Ball is an annual award given, by Portuguese newspaper A Bola, to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in the Primeira Liga. The first winner of the award was Eusébio, in 1991. Initially, it was a career award, but since then, the award was given to the best player in the league.

Format

The prize is given out by Portuguese newspaper A Bola to the best player in the Portuguese Liga.

Winners

The award has been presented on 20 occasions as of 2012, with 17 different winners.
YearWinnerCountryClubPositionSourcesNotes
1991EusébioRetiredForward
1992Vítor BaíaPortoGoalkeeper
1993João PintoBenficaForward
1994Luís FigoSporting CPMidfielder
1995DomingosPortoForward
1996João PintoBenficaForward
1997Mário JardelPortoForward
1998Mário JardelPortoForwardalign="center"
1999----
2000Jorge CostaPortoDefender
2001Erwin SánchezBoavistaMidfielder
2002Mário JardelSporting CPForward
2003DecoPortoMidfielder
2004Adriano RossatoNacionalDefender
2005SimãoBenficaMidfielder
2006PetitBenficaMidfielder
2007Ricardo Quaresma Primeira LigaPortoMidfielder
2008----
2009Lucho GonzálezPortoMidfielder
2010Javier SaviolaBenficaForward
2011Radamel FalcaoPortoForward
2012James RodríguezPortoMidfielder