 Established in 1953, the award was originally sponsored by the defunct Zagreb-based sports newspaper "Narodni sport" and its sports weekly "Sportska panorama", and was awarded to the Player of the Season in the Yugoslav First League.In February 1962 "Narodni sport" was acquired by the Vjesnik publishing company and renamed "Sportske novosti" (SN).Since 1991 and the breakup of Yugoslavia the paper gives the award to the best players in the Prva HNL, Croatian top flight.