Barcelona, March 31: Brazilian striker Neymar has been awarded the Samba Gold trophy for being the best player from his country who is based in Europe.

Neymar received the trophy on Tuesday and shared a picture of him along with the trophy on his club FC Barcelona's official website.

The striker was handed the trophy presented by French organisation Sambafoot after he received 19 votes, three more than Spanish team Atletico Madrid's Joao Miranda and Turkish side Galatasaray's Felipe Melo, who got 16 each in a poll.

Defender Thiago Silva had won all three previous editions of the award, and Barcelona's Dani Alves came second in 2011. This was the seventh edition of an accolade that has been presented since 2008.

IANS