The "Samba Gold" (Samba d'Or) is a football award given to the best Brazilian footballer in Europe, as awarded by Sambafoot. The inaugural award was made in 2008. The Samba Gold is determined by three voter panels: journalists, fellow footballers and votes from Sambafoot's online readers. In 2021, a women's award was added for the first time, the women's award is given to the best Brazilian footballer in Brazil or abroad. An award for players aged 20 and under was added in 2022.

History

• In 2008, the inaugural winner was Milan midfielder Kaká. Manchester City's Robinho and Sevilla's Luís Fabiano placed second and third in voting, respectively. There were thirty nominations, and voting took place from 1 to 30 December. Kaká obtained 25.03% of the vote, with 14.34% for Robinho and 13.65% for Fabiano.^[1]
• In 2009, Luís Fabiano (20.91%) of Sevilla won the trophy, ahead of Júlio César (17.58%) and Kaká (16.35%).^[2]
• In 2010, the prize was awarded to Maicon (12.60%) from Inter Milan, ahead of Hernanes (10.76%) and Thiago Silva (9.56%).^[3][4]
• In 2011, Milan defender Thiago Silva (16.33%) won the award, ahead of Dani Alves from Barcelona (15.56%) and Hulk from Porto (14.41%).^[5][6]
• In 2012, the list of thirty candidates was announced on 26 November.^[7][8] Paris Saint-Germain defender Thiago Silva (17.70%) was awarded the 2012 Samba Gold on 31 December, edging out Ramires (17.04%) and Willian (10.19%).^[9]
• In 2013, Thiago Silva won for a third consecutive year, beating out Dante in second and Oscar in third.^[10]
• In 2014, Neymar won the award for the first time, receiving a record percentage of votes (29.20%).^[11]
• In 2015, Neymar won the award for a second consecutive year, surpassing the record percentage of votes he received the year prior (37.87%).^[12]
• In 2016, Philippe Coutinho won the award for the first time, ending Neymar's two year reign.^[13]
• In 2017, Neymar won the award for the third time in four years.^[14]
• In 2018, Roberto Firmino won the award for the first time.^[15]
• In 2019, Alisson won the award for the first time, becoming the first goalkeeper to win the award.^[16]
• In 2020, Neymar won the award for a record fourth time.^[17]
• In 2021, Neymar won the award for a second consecutive and record-extending fifth time.^[18] Giovana Queiroz won the inaugural women's award.^[19]
• In 2022, Neymar won the award for a third consecutive and record-extending sixth time.^[20] Debinha won the women's award,^[21] while Endrick was voted winner of the inaugural under-20 award.^[22]
• In 2023, Vinicius Junior won the award for the firsr time, ending Neymar's three year reign. Tamires won the women' award, while Marcos Leonardo won the under-20 award.^[23]

Winners

Men's football

Source:^[24]

Year	First	Club(s)	Percent	Second	Club(s)	Percent	Third	Club(s)	Percent
2008	Kaká	Milan	25.03%	Robinho	Milan Manchester City	14.34%	Luís Fabiano	Sevilla	13.65%
2009	Luís Fabiano	Sevilla	20.91%	Júlio César	Internazionale	17.58%	Kaká	Real Madrid	16.35%
2010	Maicon	Internazionale	12.60%	Hernanes	São Paulo Lazio	10.76%	Thiago Silva	Milan	9.56%
2011	Thiago Silva	Milan	16.33%	Dani Alves	Barcelona	15.56%	Hulk	Porto	14.41%
2012	Thiago Silva	Milan Paris Saint-Germain	17.70%	Ramires	Chelsea	17.04%	Willian	Shakhtar Donetsk	10.19%
2013	Thiago Silva	Paris Saint-Germain	24.19%	Dante	Bayern Munich	14.63%	Oscar	Chelsea	8.20%
2014	Neymar	Barcelona	29.20%	Miranda	Atlético Madrid	16.39%	Felipe Melo	Galatasaray	16.01%
2015	Neymar	Barcelona	37.87%	Douglas Costa	Shakhtar Donetsk Bayern Munich	13.00%	Felipe Melo	Galatasaray Internazionale	9.39%
2016	Philippe Coutinho	Liverpool	32.13%	Neymar	Barcelona	27.88%	Casemiro	Real Madrid	13.35%
2017	Neymar	Barcelona Paris Saint-Germain	27.71%	Philippe Coutinho	Liverpool	16.64%	Marcelo	Real Madrid	14.43%
2018	Roberto Firmino	Liverpool	21.79%	Marcelo	Real Madrid	20.51%	Neymar	Paris Saint-Germain	18.67%
2019	Alisson	Liverpool	35.54%	Roberto Firmino	Liverpool	23.48%	Thiago Silva	Paris Saint-Germain	10.46%
2020	Neymar	Paris Saint-Germain		Bruno Guimarães	Lyon		Casemiro	Real Madrid
2021	Neymar	Paris Saint-Germain	42.77%	Vinícius Júnior	Real Madrid	14.45%	Lucas Veríssimo	Benfica	10.65%
2022	Neymar	Paris Saint-Germain	40.46%	Lucas Paquetá	Lyon West Ham United	14.55%	Bruno Guimarães	Newcastle United	13.31%
2023	Vinicius Junior	Real Madrid		Neymar	Paris Saint-Germain		Marquinhos	Paris Saint-Germain

Women's football

Year	First	Club(s)	Percent	Second	Club(s)	Percent	Third	Club(s)	Percent
2021	Giovana Queiroz	Levante	31.13%	Ludmila	Atlético Madrid	14.45%	Gabi Nunes	Madrid CFF	8.81%
2022	Debinha	North Carolina Courage	15.59%	Giovana Queiroz	Arsenal	10.08%	Geyse	Madrid CFF Barcelona
2023	Tamires	Corinthians		Bia Zaneratto	Palmeiras		Debinha	Kansas City Current

Under-20

Year	First	Club(s)	Percent	Second	Club(s)	Percent	Third	Club(s)	Percent
2022	Endrick	Palmeiras	28.39%	Matheus França	Flamengo	10.75%	Vitor Roque	Athletico Paranaense	10.13%
2023	Marcos Leonardo	Santos		Vitor Roque	Athletico Paranaense		Endrick	Palmeiras