Paraguayan striker Jose Cardozo, last year's winner, came second after another year of prolific goalscoring with his Mexican club Toluca, and Santos midfielder Diego, another teenager, was third.

Tevez, 19, has inherited the coveted Boca number 10 shirt once worn by Diego Maradona and has captivated South Americans with his speed, vision and ball skills.

He was also the subject of a bitter row between the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and his club over whether he should play in the World Youth Championship or World Club Cup final this month.

Boca eventually won the tug-of-war and Tevez helped them to a penalty shootout win over European champions AC Milan after the match in Yokohama ended in a 1-1 draw.

Tevez was one of five Boca players to finish in the top 10.

The big surprise of the poll was that Brazilian midfielder Alex only managed a modest seventh place.

Alex, Ronaldinho's usual understudy in the Brazilian national team, was the inspiration this year as Cruzeiro won the Brazilian championship for the first time. Brazilian media had expected him to battle with Tevez for the title.

Carlos Bianchi of Boca Juniors was voted the region's best coach for the fifth time after previously topping the poll in 1994, 1998, 2000 and 2001.

Bianchi has won the Libertadores three times with Boca and once with Argentina's Velez Sarsfield.

Bianchi was followed by Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the former Brazil coach now in charge of Cruzeiro, and Colombian Hernan Dario Gomez, who coaches Ecuador.

The poll, the most respected in the region, has been conducted every year since 1986.

Players and coaches have to be based in Latin America for at least part of the year to be eligible.

Previous winners include Brazil's Romario and Cafu and Colombia's Carlos Valderrama, the only player to win the award twice.