The nominees have been announced for the 2013 Samba Gold award which attempts to determine the best, or most popular, Brazilian footballer plying his trade in the European leagues. The award is run by the Brazilian football website Sambafoot, and is now in it’s 6th year.
Previous winners include Kaká at Milan in 2008, Luis Fabiano at Sevilla (2009), Maicon at Inter in 2010, and Thiago Silva, who has won the last two awards whilst at at Milan and PSG respectively. The Brazil captain is included yet again, but faces stiff competition from the likes of Oscar, Marcelo, Luis Gustavo, and Dante.
Thiago Silva picks up the 2011 award
You can vote for the award by visiting the Sambafoot website here.
The full list of nominees is as follows:
Dante – Bayern
Luiz Gustavo – Wolfsburg
Roberto Firmino – Hoffenheim
David Luiz – Chelsea
Fernandinho – Manchester City
Lucas Leiva – Liverpool
Oscar – Chelsea
Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool
Rafael – Manchester United
Ramires – Chelsea
Adriano – Barcelona
Daniel Alves – Barcelona
Filipe Luis – Atlético Madrid
Marcelo – Real Madrid
Miranda – Atletico Madrid
Alex – PSG
Brandão – Saint
Lucas – PSG
Marquinhos – PSG
Maxwell – PSG
Thiago Silva – PSG
Hernanes – Lazio
Maicon – Roma
Fernando – FC Porto
Lima – Benfica
Hulk – Zenit
Felipe Melo – Galatasaray
Alex Teixeira – Shakthar
Douglas Costa – Shakthar
Luiz Adriano – Shakthar