South American Footballer of the Year

The South American Footballer of the Year award is given to the best football South American player currently active in a South American or Mexican club. Started in 1971, it was awarded until 1992 by the Venezuelan newspaper "El Mundo", and was considered the official until 1985. Since 1986, Uruguayan newspaper "El País" chooses the "Rey del Fútbol de América" (America's King of Football), which is, since then, considered the official award.

Winners

Year	Player	Club
1971	Tostão	Cruzeiro
1972	Teófilo Cubillas	Alianza Lima
1973	Pelé	Santos
1974	Elías Figueroa	Internacional
1975	Elías Figueroa	Internacional
1976	Elías Figueroa	Internacional
1977	Zico	Flamengo
1978	Mario Kempes	Valencia
1979	Diego Maradona	Argentinos Juniors
1980	Diego Maradona	Argentinos Juniors
1981	Zico	Flamengo
1982	Zico	Flamengo
1983	Sócrates	Corinthians
1984	Enzo Francescoli	River Plate
1985	Romerito	Fluminense
1986	Antonio Alzamendi	River Plate
1987	Carlos Valderrama	Deportivo Cali
1988	Rubén Paz	Racing Club
1989	Bebeto	Vasco da Gama
1990	Raúl Vicente Amarilla	Olimpia Asunción
1991	Oscar Ruggeri	Vélez Sársfield
1992	Raí	São Paulo FC
1993	Carlos Valderrama	Atlético Junior
1994	Cafu	São Paulo FC
1995	Enzo Francescoli	River Plate
1996	José Luis Chilavert	Vélez Sársfield
1997	Marcelo Salas	River Plate
1998	Martín Palermo	Boca Juniors
1999	Javier Saviola	River Plate
2000	Romario	Vasco da Gama
2001	Juan Román Riquelme	Boca Juniors
2002	José Cardozo	Deportivo Toluca
2003	Carlos Tévez	Boca Juniors
2004	Carlos Tévez	Boca Juniors
2005	Carlos Tévez	Corinthians
2006	Matías Fernández	Colo-Colo
2007	Salvador Cabañas	América
2008	Juan Sebastián Verón	Estudiantes LP