Zinedine Zidane received an award.
From 1976 until 2010 , the Spanish sports magazine Don Balón conferred the Don Balón Award ( Premio Don Balón ) to the best Spanish player , the best foreign player , the best referee and the breakthrough player in La Liga . The Serie A Footballer of the Year ( Migliore calciatore assoluto ) is a yearly award organized by the Italian Footballers ' Association ( AIC ) given to the footballer who has been considered to have performed the best over the previous Serie A season . The Trophées UNFP du football are a number of awards given annually by the National Union of Professional Football Players to players playing in France 's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 , as well as to managers and referees , the most prestigious one being the Player of the Year . Zinedine Zidane . He was Ligue 1 Player of the Year in 1996 , Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2001 and La Liga Best Foreign Player in 2002 .