The Argentine forward Julián Álvarez was elected as the new “King of America”, according to the survey organized each year by the Uruguayan newspaper El País and released this Friday.
The 36th edition of the award given by the historic newspaper featured With the participation of 213 journalists and 59 of them chose to recognize the River Plate scorer.
During the last season, Álvarez won the Argentine League and the Champions Trophy with River, while he also won the Copa América with the national team.
The young Argentine won with 28% of the votes and He beat the Brazilian ‘Gabigol’ Barboza who finished second with 21%. Further behind were Paraguayan defender Gustavo Gómez (14%), Brazilian forward Hulk (13%) and Uruguayan Giorgian de Arrascaeta (5.5%).
The winners of the “King of America” award
The “King of America” award has been awarded by the newspaper El País since 1986 and so far the players who have stood out the most were the Chilean Elías Ricardo Figueroa, the Brazilian Zico and the Argentine Carlos Tevez, who won it three times each.
Also recognized were the Argentines Diego Armando Maradona, Juan Sebastián Verón, Mario Alberto Kempes and Juan Román Riquelme; the Colombians Carlos Valderrama and Teófilo Gutiérrez; the Paraguayans Julio César Romero and José Luis Chilavert; the Chilean Marcelo Salas; the Brazilians Neymar, Pelé and Ronaldinho; and Uruguayans Enzo Francescoli and Antonio Alzamendi, among others.
The last Argentine to win it had been Gonzalo ‘Pity’ Martínez in 2018, while in 2020 and 2021 ‘Gabigol’ Barboza and Marinho won.
The best coach in America
As in every year, the recognition also awarded to the best technical director of the continent, a category in which the winner was Portuguese Abel Ferreira, two-time Copa Libertadores champion with Brazilian Palmeiras.
The best player on the continent
Also, since this year The “Queen of America” began to be chosen, an award that went to the Brazilian Tamires, winner of the Copa Libertadores with Corinthians
.