Havana, December 14 - The 61st Latin American Press Sports Survey is experiencing a high-voltage day today, marked by one of the closest contests in its history in the category of Best Team of the Year in Latin America.
Votes cast this Sunday by Radio Sonora and the digital newspaper Colatino, both from El Salvador, as well as by Radio Nuevo Mundo from Chile, allowed the Argentine men’s national football team, world champions in Qatar 2022, to add three votes, reach 15, and tie at the top with the Cuban youth Baseball5 team, world champions in 2025.
The date also energized the individual categories. Radio Sonora supported the male vote for Salvadoran footballer Brayan Gil, who received his first vote in the Survey, and for the female vote, his compatriot, skater Ivonne Nochez.
Meanwhile, Colatino leaned its male ballot toward Brazilian table tennis player Hugo Calderano, who reached four votes, while for the female category it reiterated its confidence in Nochez, who with these new votes rose to five and tied for second place with Mexican archer Andrea Becerra.
In that category, beyond the contest for the runner-up spots, the Cuban triple jumper Leyanis Pérez dominates by a wide margin, being the outdoor and indoor world champion and Diamond League queen, firmly leading the survey with 32 votes.
Radio Nuevo Mundo added extra excitement by choosing Lionel Messi for the male category, who added his seventh vote and remains second, only surpassed by Cuban pitcher Liván Moinelo, Most Valuable Player of the Pacific League of Japanese professional baseball, the absolute leader with 17. For the female category, the Chilean outlet supported footballer Christiane Endler, who reached her fourth vote.
The 61st edition of this traditional continental poll will remain open until December 22 and continues receiving votes from across the region via the official email of the contest (
The final results will be announced at a press conference which will include a tribute to the legendary Cuban jumper Javier Sotomayor, an emblematic figure in the history of the Survey.
This year, the voting is taking place under the sign of two major anniversaries: the centenary of the birth of Fidel Castro, promoter of the Cuban sports movement, and the fifth anniversary of the passing of Diego Armando Maradona, the absolute winner of the award in 1986.
