It is - perhaps - the biggest one-horse race in sport.

Sweden's Player of the Year award has not exactly been shared around the world of football in recent years. Between 2007 and 2014 the gong went to just one man - Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

And you'll never guess who was presented with the Guldbollen for 2015. Yes, that's right - Zlatan, whose eight goals in helping Sweden to the Euro 2016 play-offs, where they face Denmark this week, gave him quite a large advantage over his 'rivals'.

His triumph meant he has now won the award - which is decided by the newspaper Aftonbladet and the Swedish Football Association - in nine years out of 10, with only Arsenal's Freddie Ljungberg breaking that run by winning it in 2006. No other player has won the award more than twice.

It's fair to say that Ibrahimovic's hold over this particular gong - which has also been won by giants such as Olof Mellberg and Magnus Hedman in recent years - is unparalleled in the rest of football.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo cannot claim such dominance. He has 'only' won the CNID Best Portuguese Athlete Abroad title five times in the last eight years, having lost out to Deco (2006), Simao Sabrosa (2010) and Pepe (2014).

Lionel Messi had been named Argentina's Footballer of the Year (among players based abroad) for eight years running until he was beaten by Angel Di Maria in 2014, presumably based on performances prior to his signing for Manchester United.

Probably the only man who can match Ibrahimovic for dominance in this field is Manchester City's Yaya Toure.

The midfielder has been named Africa's player of the year for five successive years - and not even Zlatan can claim to be the best on his whole continent.

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