The Prva HNL Player of the Year award (Croatian: Najbolji igrač Prve HNL) is an annual association football award given by the Croatian web portal Tportal.hr. It is awarded to the best football player who plays in the Prva HNL (or "1. HNL"), Croatian top flight. The winner is chosen by captains of all Prva HNL clubs.[1]
The award was established in 2003. Eduardo and Sammir hold the record for most wins with two awards. The current award holder is Dani Olmo of GNK Dinamo Zagreb.[2]
Another similar award is the Yellow Shirt Award which is based on aggregate player ratings in matches throughout the season as judged by the country's only sports daily Sportske novosti.
Winners edit
| Year | Player (Wins) | Club(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 |  Niko Kranjčar (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2004 | Tomislav Erceg (1) |
Rijeka |
| 2005 | Eduardo (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2006 | Eduardo (2) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2007 | Luka Modrić (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2008 | Mario Mandžukić (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2009 |  Ermin Zec (1) |
Šibenik |
| 2010 | Sammir (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2011 | Ivan Santini (1) |
Zadar |
| 2012 | Sammir (2) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2013 | Leon Benko (1) |
Rijeka |
| 2014 | Andrej Kramarić (1) |
Rijeka |
| 2015 | Marin Tomasov (1) |
Rijeka |
| 2016 | Franko Andrijašević (1) |
Rijeka |
| 2017 |  El Arabi Hillel Soudani (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2018 |  Dani Olmo (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2019 | Bruno Petković (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2020 |  Arijan Ademi (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2021 | Marko Livaja (1) |
Hajduk Split |
| 2022 | Marko Livaja (2) |
Hajduk Split
6 |
| 2023 | Bruno Petković (2) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
See also edit
- Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award, for the HNL footballer of the year, given by the Croatian sport newspaper Sportske novosti, chosen by sport journalists.
- Croatian Footballer of the Year, given by the Croatian newspaper Večernji list, chosen by sport journalists.
- Football Oscar, given by the Croatian union Football syndicate, chosen by players and managers of league clubs.
References edit
- ^ "Tko je nasljednik Nike, Eduarda, Luke, Sammira?" (in Croatian). tportal. 30 September 2012. Archived from the original on 6 July 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
- ^ "Mate Maleš presudio - najbolji igrač je Franko Andrijašević!" (in Croatian). Tportal. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.