Portuguese Golden Ball

The Portuguese Golden Ball (known in Portuguese as A Bola de Ouro) 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.^[1]

Format

The prize is given out by Portuguese newspaper A Bola to the best player in the Portuguese Liga.^[2]

Winners

Luís Figo won the award in 1994.

The award has been presented on 20 occasions as of 2012, with 17 different winners.

Year	Winner	Country	Club	Position	Sources	Notes
1991	Eusébio	Portugal	Retired	Forward	[1]	[A]
1992	Vítor Baía	Portugal	Porto	Goalkeeper	[1]
1993	João Pinto	Portugal	Benfica	Forward	[1]
1994	Luís Figo	Portugal	Sporting CP	Midfielder	[1]
1995	Domingos	Portugal	Porto	Forward	[1]
1996	João Pinto	Portugal	Benfica	Forward	[1]
1997	Mário Jardel	Brazil	Porto	Forward	[1]
1998	Mário Jardel	Brazil	Porto	Forward	[1]
1999	-	-	-	-	[1]	[B]
2000	Jorge Costa	Portugal	Porto	Defender	[1][3]
2001	Erwin Sánchez	Bolivia	Boavista	Midfielder	[4]
2002	Mário Jardel	Brazil	Sporting CP	Forward	[4]
2003	Deco	Brazil	Porto	Midfielder	[4]
2004	Adriano Rossato	Brazil	Nacional	Defender	[4]
2005	Simão	Portugal	Benfica	Midfielder	[4]
2006	Petit	Portugal	Benfica	Midfielder	[4]
2007	Ricardo Quaresma	Portugal	Porto	Midfielder	[4]
2008	-	-	-	-
2009	Lucho González	Argentina	Porto	Midfielder	[1]
2010	Javier Saviola	Argentina	Benfica	Forward	[1]
2011	Radamel Falcao	Colombia	Porto	Forward	[5]
2012	James Rodríguez	Colombia	Porto	Midfielder	[6][7]

See also

• CNID Footballer of the Year
• SJPF Player of the Month
• LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year

Notes

A. ^ It was a career award.^[1]

B. ^ In 1999 the Portuguese Golden Ball was not awarded.^[1]