Trofeo EFE

Recipients are selected based on assessments from the agency's sports editors.

Chilean Iván Zamorano and Brazilian Ronaldo Nazário have won the award twice.

In 2000 Argentine Fernando Redondo received a special distinction as the best player of the 1990s decade.

In the 2017–18 season, the award expanded beyond Spain, with Uruguayan Edinson Cavani becoming the first player outside the Spanish La Liga to win the award, doing so with French Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain.

[2] In the 2018–19 season, the award was not given, and in 2019–20 it was won by a woman for the first time ever, Colombian midfielder Leicy Santos.

Lionel Messi is the award's record holder with five wins, four of which came consecutively.
Lionel Messi is the award's record holder with five wins, four of which came consecutively.