El País is a national Uruguayan daily newspaper. It is based in the capital city of Montevideo and is regarded as the newspaper with the largest circulation in the country.^[2] It was first published on September 14, 1918 and previously belonged to the same media group as the television network Teledoce.

El País was founded on September 14, 1918. Founded by journalists Leonel Aguirre, Eduardo Rodríguez Larreta and Washington Beltrán Barbat, in 1919 Carlos Scheck joined the group. Originally, it was related to the National Party, precisely with the Independent National Party. However it later developed into a general interest newspaper.^[3]

For decades, El País has been among the leading written media in Uruguay, with a circulation of 65,000 on weekdays and 100,000 on Sundays. Its editorial focus is on the social, political and economic news of Uruguay, as well as the Mercosur regional trade alliance.^[4]

From 1991 to 2012 El País had been awarding the prize "El País King of European Soccer" for the best footballer in Europe.

The first winner was French Jean-Pierre Papin.

Argentine football player Lionel Messi and French Zinedine Zidane were the record winners with 4 wins each.

Messi won all four awards successively (2009-12).^[5]