2018 South American Footballer of the Year

The 2018 South American Footballer of the Year award (Spanish: Rey del Fútbol de América), given to the best football player in South America by Uruguayan newspaper El País through voting by journalists across the continent, was awarded to Argentine midfielder Gonzalo "Pity" Martínez of River Plate on December 31, 2018.^[1]

The award is part of the paper's "El Mejor de América" (The Best of America) awards, which also presents the awards for South American Coach of the Year (Entrenador del año en Sudamérica) and the Best XI (Equipo Ideal), composed of the best eleven players at their positions.^[2] Marcelo Gallardo of River Plate was named Coach of the Year.^[3]

Best Player[edit]

Rank	Player	Nationality	Club	Votes
1	Gonzalo Martínez	Argentina	River Plate	130
2	Juan Fernando Quintero	Colombia	River Plate	49
3	Franco Armani	Argentina	River Plate	40
4	Josef Martínez	Venezuela	Atlanta United	23
5	Nahitan Nández	Uruguay	Boca Juniors	18
6	Wílmar Barrios	Colombia	Boca Juniors	15
7	Lucas Pratto	Argentina	River Plate	8
8	Dudu	Brazil	Palmeiras	7
9	Darío Benedetto	Argentina	Boca Juniors	6
9	Giorgian De Arrascaeta	Uruguay	Cruzeiro	6
11	Miguel Borja	Colombia	Palmeiras	5
12	Rafael Santos Borré	Colombia	River Plate	3
13	Cristian Pavón	Argentina	Boca Juniors	1
	Luan	Brazil	Grêmio	1
	André-Pierre Gignac	France	Tigres UANL	1
	Lucas Lima	Brazil	Palmeiras	1
	Pablo César Aguilar	Paraguay	Cruz Azul	1
	Ramón Ábila	Argentina	Boca Juniors	1
	Óscar Cardozo	Paraguay	Libertad	1
	Cristian Rodríguez	Uruguay	Peñarol	1
	Emanuel Herrera	Argentina	Sporting Cristal	1
	Pablo Escobar	Bolivia	The Strongest	1

Best Manager[edit]

Rank	Player	Nationality	Club / National team	Votes
1	Marcelo Gallardo	Argentina	River Plate	278
2	Ricardo Gareca	Argentina	Peru national team	16
3	Gerardo Martino	Argentina	Atlanta United	11
4	Tiago Nunes	Brazil	Atlético Paranaense	2
	Renato Portaluppi	Brazil	Grêmio	2
	Tite	Brazil	Brazil national team	2
7	Ariel Holan	Argentina	Independiente	1
	César Farías	Venezuela	The Strongest	1
	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Argentina	Boca Juniors	1
	Óscar Tabárez	Uruguay	Uruguay national team	1
	Diego López	Uruguay	Peñarol	1
	Lucas Pusineri	Argentina	Cúcuta Deportivo	1
	Mario Salas	Chile	Sporting Cristal	1
	Pedro Caixinha	Portugal	Cruz Azul	1
	Alexander Medina	Uruguay	Nacional	1

Best Team[edit]

Position	Player	Nationality	Club
GK	Franco Armani	Argentina	River Plate
CB	Walter Kannemann	Argentina	Grêmio
CB	Pedro Geromel	Brazil	Grêmio
CB	Jonatan Maidana	Argentina	River Plate
MF	Gonzalo Martínez	Argentina	River Plate
MF	Exequiel Palacios	Argentina	River Plate
MF	Wílmar Barrios	Colombia	Boca Juniors
MF	Nahitan Nández	Uruguay	Boca Juniors
MF	Juan Fernando Quintero	Colombia	River Plate
MF	Dudu	Brazil	Palmeiras
FW	Darío Benedetto	Argentina	Boca Juniors

National awards[edit]

Nation	Best player	Best manager	Best team
Argentina	Lisandro López (Racing Club)	Marcelo Gallardo (River Plate)	Boca Juniors
Bolivia	Pablo Escobar (The Strongest)	Eduardo Villegas (San José)	San José
Brazil	Dudu (Palmeiras)	Luiz Felipe Scolari (Palmeiras)	Palmeiras
Chile	José Pedro Fuenzalida (U. Católica)	Francisco Bozán (U. de Concepción)	Universidad Católica
Colombia	Germán Cano (Independiente Medellín)	Julio Comesaña (Junior)	Junior
Costa Rica	Jonathan Moya (Alajuelense)	Martín Cardetti (San Carlos)	Herediano
Ecuador	Jhon Cifuente (U. Católica - ECU)	Pablo Repetto (Liga de Quito)	Emelec
United States	Josef Martinez (Atlanta United)	Gerardo Martino (Atlanta United)	Atlanta United
Honduras	Yustin Arboleda (Marathón)	Héctor Vargas (Marathón)	Motagua
Mexico	André-Pierre Gignac (Tigres UANL)	Pedro Caixinha (Cruz Azul)	América
Paraguay	Roque Santa Cruz (Club Olimpia)	Daniel Garnero (Club Olimpia)	Olimpia
Peru	Emanuel Herrera (Sporting Cristal)	Mario Salas (Sporting Cristal)	Sporting Cristal
Uruguay	Kevin Dawson (Peñarol)	Diego López (Peñarol)	Peñarol
Venezuela	Darwin González (Deportivo La Guaira)	Alí Cañas (Zamora)	Zamora

References[edit]

^ "SENSACIONAL TEMPORADA CON RIVER CONVIRTIÓ A "PITY" MARTÍNEZ EN EL 'REY DE AMÉRICA' | INFOCancha Información Deportiva". www.infocancha.com. Retrieved 2020-01-01.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Escobar y Villegas son elegidos los mejores del fútbol boliviano". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 2018-12-31. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
^ "Pity Martínez é eleito o Rei da América; Brasil tem dois representantes da seleção de 2018". Globoesporte (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-01-01.

External links[edit]

[1] "SENSACIONAL TEMPORADA CON RIVER CONVIRTIÓ A "PITY" MARTÍNEZ EN EL 'REY DE AMÉRICA' | INFOCancha Información Deportiva". www.infocancha.com. Retrieved 2020-01-01.^{[permanent dead link]}

[2] "Escobar y Villegas son elegidos los mejores del fútbol boliviano". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 2018-12-31. Retrieved 2020-01-01.

[3] "Pity Martínez é eleito o Rei da América; Brasil tem dois representantes da seleção de 2018". Globoesporte (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-01-01.

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v t e South American Footballer of the Year (Rey de América)
El Mundo award	1971: Tostão 1972: Cubillas 1973: Pelé 1974: Figueroa 1975: Figueroa 1976: Figueroa 1977: Zico 1978: Kempes 1979: Maradona 1980: Maradona 1981: Zico 1982: Zico 1983: Sócrates 1984: Francescoli 1985: Romerito 1986: Maradona 1987: Valderrama 1988: Paz 1989: Maradona 1990: Maradona 1991: Batistuta 1992: Maradona
El Gráfico award	1980: Maradona 1981: Maradona 1982: Zico 1983: Sócrates
El País award	1986: Alzamendi 1987: Valderrama 1988: Paz 1989: Bebeto 1990: Amarilla 1991: Ruggeri 1992: Raí 1993: Valderrama 1994: Cafu 1995: Francescoli 1996: Chilavert 1997: Salas 1998: Palermo 1999: Saviola 2000: Romário 2001: Riquelme 2002: Cardozo 2003: Tevez 2004: Tevez 2005: Tevez 2006: Fernández 2007: Cabañas 2008: Verón 2009: Verón 2010: D'Alessandro 2011: Neymar 2012: Neymar 2013: Ronaldinho 2014: Gutiérrez 2015: Sánchez 2016: Borja 2017: Luan 2018: Martínez 2019: Gabriel 2020: Marinho 2021: Álvarez 2022: Pedro 2023: Cano