The inaugural award, given at the "Oscar del Calcio AIC" ceremony, was presented after the conclusion of the 1996–97 Serie A season to forward Roberto Mancini of Sampdoria.

[3] The next two recipients of the award were Lazio's Christian Vieri,[4][5] and Roma's Francesco Totti.

[16] He also won the FIFA World Player of the Year[17] and the Ballon d'Or[18] that season after he was signed by Real Madrid from Juventus midway through 2006[19] in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal that saw the club stripped of their title and relegated to Serie B.

[40] As Juventus secured their sixth consecutive Serie A title, establishing an all-time record of successive triumphs in the competition, Buffon equalled Virginio Rosetta, Giovanni Ferrari, and Giuseppe Furino as the player with the most Italian league title victories (8).

[47][48] In 2019–20, the second season he won the award, he scored the second-most goals in the league, while being the top scorer for his club once again (31).

[49][50] In the 2020–21 season, Romelu Lukaku won the award after winning the Scudetto with Inter, ending a nine-year long streak by Juventus.

[51][52] In the 2021–22 season, Portuguese striker Rafael Leão won the award after contributing to AC Milan's first Italian Serie A title in 11 years.