Argentine Footballer of the Year

The Footballer of the Year of Argentina is a yearly award given by the Argentine Sports Journalists' Circle as one of the Olimpia Awards, the most important sports award in Argentina.
The Olimpia is awarded in the sport of association football and, since 2008, is shared by the best player of the local league and the best Argentine playing abroad.
Up to 2008, the award was not shared, and was either given to the best player of Argentine nationality of the season, or to the best foreign footballer of the local league. It is unclear when Argentine footballers playing abroad and expatriate players in the country started being eligible. Mario Kempes in 1978 was the first Argentine to receive the award while playing abroad. Kempes was playing in the Spanish league for Valencia CF at the time, and had been a key player in the Argentina national team World Cup winning campaign of that year. On the other hand, Uruguayan Enzo Francescoli was the first foreign player to receive the award.
Lionel Messi is the award's all-time record holder with sixteen wins, seven of which were in a row. Emiliano Martínez is the current holder of the award.