20th FutsalPlanet Awards — All you need to know!
Jubilant 20th edition of Futsalplanet Awards is upon us! Once again, it is time to give special and very much deserved recognition to the players and staff that help make futsal the best sport on Earth! But, before we start talking about this year nominees, the 20th anniversary of this ceremony is an ideal opportunity to take a look back and see which futsal characters have marked this most traditional and recognized futsal awards.
FutsalPlanet Awards in detail
What you need to know about Futsalplanet Awards is that awards are given in eight different categories. This year, like before, awards will be handed to the best player in the world (male and female), best goalkeeper in the world (again, male and female), best young player, best club coach, best national team coach (Dimitri Nicolaou Award), best national team, best club and best referee of the world.
Although many greats have won The Best Player in the World award including legendary Falcão and Manoel Tobias, it is Ricardinho who has been dominant in this category. He has won this prize six times in total, but he also won the last five editions. This year’s awards will see someone else taking this prestige award for the first time since 2013 and Sergio Lozano.
In the female category for the best player, Amandinha has been equally dominant. However, she will get another chance this year to make it six in a row!
The Best Goalkeeper in the World award has also seen many greats accepting the award including Leo Higuita, Stefano Mammarella, Mostafa Nazari, Luis Amado and many more. Female awards in this category have been added in 2015 and someone is yet to establish dominance in this field, but Ana Catarina will have a chance to win it second time in a row.
In the category for The Best Young Player in the World, Spanish players have been quite dominant which is not surprising given the fact how much Spanish clubs invest in youth development. Adolfo Fernandez “Adolfito”, current Barcelona player, has won this award three years in a row and still holds the record.
Jesús Velasco Tejada, former Inter Movistar coach has won the award for The Best Club Coach in the World five last years in a row owing to great successes his team did in that era. Similarly like Ricardinho, this year it is time for a new club coach to take this award as Tejada is not nominated.
The Dimitri Nicolaou Award for The Best National Team Coach in the World, named after a late Greek futsal player and coach Dimitri Nicolaou is pretty much self-explanatory. However, the person who has been ever-present in this category is Spanish national team coach Josè Venancio Lopez Hierro. He won this award five times since 2007, which definitely depicts his greatness and contribution to futsal.
The Best National Team in the World award has been won by Brazil a staggering seven times! How dominant Brazilians are is best depicted with the fact that their rivals Spain won this award three times. But it will be interesting to see if last year winners Portugal can make it two-in-a-row.
Inter Movistar have been, without any doubt, the best team in the last four to five year. This is clear from the fact that coach Tejada won his awards as a coach of Inter Movistar and Ricardinho won it five times in a row as a player of the same club. No surprise than that Inter Movistar won this award for the last four years straight. They are not shortlisted for awards this year, but many great and famous clubs are, especially many South American teams.
Finally, Futsalplanet Awards also reward the hard work of our sport’s referees. Fernando Gutiérrez Lumbreras has won this award most of any other referees — three times. Interestingly, last two years this award was given to Croatian referees. Last year’s winner Nikola Jelić is again in competition for this prestigious award.
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