# BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year

The BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year, or simply Balkan Athlete of the Year (Bulgarian: БТА спортист на Балканите, romanized: BTA sportist na Balkanite) is an annual sports athlete of the year award. The winner of each year's award is announced by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA). The award is given to the year's top performing individual athlete that has citizenship from one of the nations of the Balkans region, which includes the twelve nations of: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey, and previously included the former nations of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. The award winners are chosen by the votes of a panel of sports journalists and editors from the following ten Balkan nation's news media outlets: the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), which also announces each year's winners, the Romanian AGERPRES, the Greek Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), the Turkish Anatolian Agency (AA), the Croatian News Agency (HINA), the Bosnia and Herzegovina Federal News Agency (FENA), the North Macedonia Media Information Agency (MIA), the Montenegrin News Agency (MINA), and the Serbian TANYUG Correct.
All athletes that have citizenship from a country that is a part of the Balkans region, both men's and women's, and that compete in all age categories and all levels of competition, are eligible for the award. Balkan athletes from all sports competitions, both individual sports and team sports, are eligible for the award. Balkan athletes are also eligible for the award regardless of what country in the world that they compete in, as they do not have to compete in a Balkans nation to be eligible to win the award.
The first Balkan Athlete of the Year award was given for the year 1973. It was won by Svetla Zlateva, a Bulgarian sprinter and middle-distance runner. The Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, has won the most awards, having won the award a total of eight times (2011–2015, 2019, 2021, 2023).

## Balkan Athlete of the Year award winners (1973–present)

| Year | Athlete | Sport | Awards, honors, and achievements in Year Won | Ref. |
| 1973 | Svetla Zlateva | athletics | | |
| 1974 | Mate Parlov | boxing | | |
| 1975 | Nadia Comăneci | artistic gymnastics | | |
| 1976 | Nadia Comăneci (2×) | artistic gymnastics | | |
| 1977 | Totka Petrova | athletics | | |
| 1978 | Miloš Srejović | athletics | | |
| 1979 | Yanko Rusev | weightlifting | |
| 1980 | Nadia Comăneci (3×) | artistic gymnastics | | |
| 1981 | Antoaneta Todorova | athletics | |
| 1982 | Blagoi Blagoev | weightlifting | | |
| 1983 | Diliana Georgieva | rhythmic gymnastics | | |
| 1984 | Lyudmila Andonova | athletics | | |
| 1985 | Stefka Kostadinova | athletics | | |
| 1986 | Yordanka Donkova | athletics | | |
| 1987 | Stefka Kostadinova (2×) | athletics | | |
| 1988 | Daniela Silivaș | artistic gymnastics | | |
| 1989 | Paula Ivan | athletics | | |
| 1990 | Monica Seles | tennis | | |
| 1991 | Monica Seles (2×) | tennis | |
| 1992 | Voula Patoulidou | athletics | | |
| 1993 | Ivan Ivanov | weightlifting | |
| 1994 | Hristo Stoichkov | football | | |
| 1995 | Stefka Kostadinova (3×) | athletics | |
| 1996 | Stefka Kostadinova (4×) | athletics | | |
| 1997 | Stefka Kostadinova (5×) | athletics | | |
| 1998 | Ekaterina Dafovska | biathlon | | |
| 1999 | Gabriela Szabo | athletics | | |
| 2000 | Kostas Kenteris | athletics | | |
| 2001 | Kostas Kenteris (2×) | athletics | | |
| 2002 | Georgi Markov | weightlifting | | |
| 2003 | Yordan Yovchev | artistic gymnastics | | |
| 2004 | Maria Grozdeva | shooting | | |
| 2005 | Marian Drăgulescu | artistic gymnastics | | |
| 2006 | Vanya Stambolova | athletics | | |
| 2007 | Rumyana Neykova | rowing | | |
| 2008 | Constantina Tomescu | athletics | | |
| 2009 | Vassilis Spanoulis | basketball | | |
| 2010 | Stanka Zlateva | wrestling | | |
| 2011 | Novak Djokovic | tennis | | |
| 2012 | Novak Djokovic (2×) | tennis | | |
| 2013 | Novak Djokovic (3×) | tennis | | |
| 2014 | Novak Djokovic (4×) | tennis | | |
| 2015 | Novak Djokovic (5×) | tennis | | |
| 2016 | Sandra Perković | athletics | | |
| 2017 | Grigor Dimitrov | tennis | | |
| 2018 | Luka Modrić | football | | |
| 2019 | Novak Djokovic (6×) | tennis | | |
| 2020 | Cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| 2021 | Novak Djokovic (7×) | tennis | | |
| 2022 | David Popovici | swimming | | |
| 2023 | Novak Djokovic (8×) | tennis | | |