Tostão wins XI Vázquez Montalbán International Sportswriting Award

The Vázquez Montalbán Award for sportswriting will go to Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade, better known as ‘Tostão’, in recognition of his “journalistic excellence that can be seen in his columns, the free and lucid spirit of his articles, his lack of chauvinism, and his often ironic yet accurate diagnoses of the Brazilian national team’s shortcomings”.

The award is organised by the FC Barcelona Foundation in association with the Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya, and will be presented some time in 2015. This year’s jury was made up of Josep Maria Bartomeu, Ramon Pont, Ramon Cierco, Carles Vilarrubí, Josep Cortada, Mònica Terribas, Joaquim Maria Puyal, Borja de Riquer, Jordi Basté, Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté, Anton M. Espadaler, Jaume Pujol-Galceran, Ramon Besa, Santiago Segurola, Xavier Folch and Sergi Pàmies.

‘Tostão’: footballer and writer

Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade (Belo Horizonte, 25 January 1947) formed part of a legendary Brazilian strike-force alongside Jairzinho, Gerson, Tostão, Pelé and Rivelinho. He later won fame for his columns in the prestigious Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, where he explained so much about at the side of football that the cameras never see. The best of his writings were compiled in the book ‘Perfeição Não Existe’.

Previous winners

This international award for sportswriting was created in 2004 in honour of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a renowned writer who was admired for his rigour, ethics, social commitment and self-criticism. The previous winners of the award have been:

2004: Patrick Mignon
2005: Joaquim Maria Puyal
2006: Juan Villoro
2007: Simon Kuper
2008: Candido Cannavò
2009: Ramon Besa
2010: Eduardo Galeano
2011: Santiago Segurola
2012: Nick Hornby
2013: Sergi Pàmies