This has been awarded since 1975 as part of the Premio Don Balon awards.
Don Balon is a Spanish sports magazine and they hand out this award at
the end of each season along with a number of others such as best player
player and best newcomer. This particular award is only open to foreign
footballers playing in La Liga.
All the big names you'd expect are there - Cruyff, Schuster, Ronaldo, Figo etc.
A few surprises stand out though -
Argentinian midfielder Juan Barbas won it twice in the 80's before moving to
Italian side Lecce. And Turkish forward Nihat deserves a mention as he was up
against a multitude of top foreign stars in 2002.
The only other relative
unknown to win it was Deportivo's Miroslav Djukic. The classy
Yugoslavian defender was awarded it in the 1992-93 season but deserves an honourable
mention for the following season as well - picture the scene... Deportivo
v Valencia at the Riazor on the final day of the season. Deportivo need a
win to claim their 1st ever la Liga title. As the game goes into injury time
it's still 0-0. Title rivals Barca are beating Seville so Deportivo need the win.
Nando is fouled in the box - penalty to Deportivo. Regular penalty taker
Bebeto bottles it, and Donato has been substituted, so up steps
Miroslav Djukic. This to win the title. And he... misses.
His lame attempt - straight at the goalie
Gonzalez, hands Barca the title on goal difference.
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Spanish Foreign Player of the Year Award (Don Balon Mejor Extranjero de la Liga) 