European Sportsperson of the Year
The PAP European Sportsperson of the Year is an annual sports award presented by Polish Press Agency. Both male and female athletes are considered for the award by a panel of 27 international news agencies. The winner is announced each year on the second Christmas Day.
History
It was founded by Włodzimierz Źróbik and has been awarded annually since 1958. The European Sportsperson of the Year award honours the sportsperson deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on voting by 27 international news agencies. The inaugural winner of the award was Olympic gold medallist Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak who specialized in the 3000 metre steeplechase.The 27 agencies that are part of the panel are: EFE France Presse, Agerpress, ANP, APA, ATA, Belga, Belta, BTA, CTK, DPA, Elta, FENA, HINA, LETA, Lusa, Moldpres, SDA-ATS, SHGSK, SID, Sita, STA, Tanjug, TASS, Ukrinform and PAP.
The most wins are held by representatives of track and field sports, followed by tennis and Formula 1. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the most successful individual winners with five victories, while Valeriy Brumel and Michael Schumacher hold three victories each. In 2005, Roger Federer and Yelena Isinbayeva were declared joint winners. So far, 47 male and 17 female athletes received the title of PAP European Sportsperson of the Year.
Winners 1958-2010
List of past winners from 1958 to 2010: Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak, Vasili Kuznetsov, Yury Vlasov, Valeriy Brumel, Lidiya Skoblikova, Michel Jazy, Irena Kirszenstein, Jean-Claude Killy, Eddy Merckx, Juha Väätäinen, Lasse Virén, Kornelia Ender, Irena Szewińska, Kornelia Ender, Nadia Comăneci, Rosemarie Ackermann, Vladimir Yashchenko, Sebastian Coe, Vladimir Salnikov, Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson, Jarmila Kratochvílová, Michael Gross, Sergey Bubka, Heike Drechsler, Stephen Roche, Steffi Graf, Stefan Edberg, Katrin Krabbe, Nigel Mansell, Linford Christie, Johann Olav Koss, Jonathan Edwards, Svetlana Masterkova, Martina Hingis, Mika Häkkinen, Gabriela Szabo, Inge de Bruijn, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer, Roger Federer and Yelena Isinbayeva, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal.Winners since 2011
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| 2011 | |||
| 2012 | |||
| 2013 | |||
| 2014 | | | |
| 2015 | | | |
| 2016 | | | |
| 2017 | | | |
| 2018 | |||
| 2019 | |||
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | |||
| 2022 | |||
| 2023 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2025 |