With the president of LaLiga once saying Lionel Messi could one day have an award named after him, here are six legendary footballers who made such a massive impact on football that they received this major honour.
Click through the gallery above to see six legends who have individual accolades named after them.
Many footballers of past and present have left their mark on the beautiful game, but only a small percentage of players make such an impact that individual awards are named in their honour.
Last year, LaLiga chief Javier Tebas admitted he would consider naming the LaLiga Best Player prize after Messi, who has won the accolade himself on eight occasions
Perhaps the 32-year-old will only be given this honour once he has hung up his boots, like many other legendary footballers, such as Lev Yashin, who, to this day, remains the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d'Or.
Although the award is no longer named the "Yashin Award", it was once a prize given to the best goalkeeper at the FIFA World Cup. It ran from 1994 to 2006, and was won by big names such as Michel Preud'homme, Fabien Barthez, Oliver Kahn and Gianluigi Buffon.
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In Spain, the Pichichi Trophy is handed out to the top scorer of LaLiga every season. The prize was named after Athletic Bilbao icon Rafael "Pichichi" Moreno, who sadly died at the young age of 29 in 1922. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have both been recipients of the famous prize, and Real Madrid's Karim Benzema currently leads the race for first place so far in the 2019/20 campaign.
One of the biggest and most recognisable awards in football is the FIFA Puskas Award, which was named after global legend Ferenc Puskas and was created a decade ago. The accolade is given to the player that scores the best goal in a calendar year, and was first awarded to former Manchester United superstar Ronaldo.
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A few more awards feature in our gallery – click through the pictures above to see all six of them!
Which current footballers deserve to have awards named after them? Let us know in the comments section below.
