FIFA Fair Play Award

Ball boys in Banadir Stadium, Somalia, holding a FIFA Fair Play banner.

The FIFA Fair Play Award is a FIFA recognition of exemplary behaviour that promotes the spirit of fair play and compassion in association football around the world. First awarded in 1987, it has been presented to individuals (including posthumously), teams, fans, spectators, football associations/federations and even entire footballing communities. One or more awards are presented annually, with there being at least one recipient each year except in 1994, when no award was presented.

Winners[]

Year	Winners[1]	Reason	Ref
1987	Dundee United's fans	Fans' good behaviour towards winners IFK Göteborg in the UEFA Cup Final.	[2]
1988	Frank Ordenewitz	Sporting behaviour in admitting handball in a penalty situation in a match between 1. FC Köln and Werder Bremen.	[b]
	Spectators of the 1988 Seoul Olympic football tournament	Fans leaving a lasting impression with their sporting and composed behaviour.
1989	Trinidadian and Tobagonian supporters	Sporting behaviour despite home loss to the United States in their final match in the 1989 CONCACAF Championship.
1990	Gary Lineker	Entire 16-year career as a professional football player without a yellow or red card.
1991	Royal Spanish Football Federation	Exemplary way the government, media, schools, artists and sponsors were all involved in fair play activities.
	Jorginho	Unique career and model behaviour both on and off the field.
1992	Royal Belgian Football Association	Promoting fair play with its campaign "Football in Peace" and aid project "Casa Hogar" in Toluca, Mexico.
1993	Nándor Hidegkuti	Honoured for his model behaviour as a player and coach.
	Football Association of Zambia	Efforts of the reconstituted national team in the wake of 1993 Zambia national team air disaster.
1994	Not awarded
1995	Jacques Glassmann	Courageous attitude as whistleblower in the Valenciennes and Marseille bribery case.
1996	George Weah	Demonstrating his true love for the game and projecting the message of Fair Play to the widest possible public.
1997	Irish supporters	Exemplary behaviour, especially during the World Cup preliminary match against Belgium.	[3][l]
	Jozef Žovinec (Slovak amateur player)	60 years of amateur football without receiving a yellow card.
	Julie Foudy	Efforts against child labour.
1998	United States Soccer Federation	Sportsmanship surrounding their World Cup match, despite mutual political tensions for nearly 20 years.
	Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran
	Irish Football Association	Efforts to reunite the Catholic and Protestant communities, in a match in Belfast between Cliftonville and Linfield.
1999	New Zealand's football community	Efforts towards making the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship a resounding success.
2000	Lucas Radebe	Working with children in South Africa and commitment to the fight against racism in football.
2001	Paolo Di Canio	Taking ball out of play with his hands, when opposing goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was injured on the ground.	[4]
2002	Football communities of Japan and Korea Republic	Demonstrating a spirit of brotherhood and sportsmanship by co-hosting the 2002 World Cup.	[5]
2003	Celtic's Fans	Exemplary behaviour in the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, despite Celtic losing 3–2 in extra-time to Porto.	[5]
2004	Brazilian Football Confederation	Recognition of the "Match for Peace" played by the national teams of Brazil and Haiti, where tickets were offered in exchange for guns.	[5]
2005	Community of Iquitos, Peru	Wholehearted support of the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, and contribution to football.	[5]
2006	Fans of the 2006 World Cup	Fans' fair play, mutual respect, and special atmosphere created inside and outside the stadiums.	[5]
2007	Barcelona	Rejecting lucrative shirt sponsorship deals and instead carrying the UNICEF logo.	[6]
2008	Turkish Football Federation	Encouraging dialogue between two countries which otherwise do not have any form of diplomatic relationship.	[7]
	Football Federation of Armenia
2009	Bobby Robson	Posthumously awarded for commitment to fair play shown throughout his career as a player and coach.	[8]
2010	Haiti women's national under-17 football team	Enduring hardships in wake of 2010 Haiti earthquake.	[9]
2011	Japan Football Association	Enduring hardships in wake of 2011 Japan earthquake, while winning the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
2012	Uzbekistan Football Association	Showing that fair play and competition are not mutually exclusive but complement each other.
2013	Afghanistan Football Federation	Solidarity in football against all odds through the after-effects of war, disorder and conflict.	[10]
2014	World Cup volunteers	Their work, tireless support, enthusiasm, and passion for the game as demonstrated at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, and 2014 FIFA Club World Cup.
2015	All football organisations supporting refugees	Working to support refugees in the face of conflict. Accepted on their behalf by Gerald Asamoah, who campaigns for the welfare of refugees.
2016	Atlético Nacional	Requested CONMEBOL to award Chapecoense with the 2016 Copa Sudamericana title after the LaMia Flight 2933 crash.
2017	Francis Koné	Saved the life of an opponent by administering on-pitch first aid after a collision.	[11]
2018	Lennart Thy	Missed an Eredivisie match for VVV Venlo against PSV Eindhoven to donate blood for a recipient in urgent need of matching stem cells for leukaemia treatment.	[12]
2019	Marcelo Bielsa	After Leeds United scored while Aston Villa had an injured player on the pitch, Leeds United allowed Aston Villa to score unopposed.	[13]
	Leeds United
2020	Mattia Agnese	Administered critical first aid to an opponent who lost consciousness following an on-field collision.	[14]
2021	Denmark national team and medical staff	Administered critical CPR and protected Christian Eriksen during the UEFA Euro 2020 group stage match versus Finland

Notes[]

• ^b – The Werder Bremen player admitted handball in the penalty area to the referee in a German League match against 1. FC Köln on 7 May 1988. Cologne went on to win the match 2–0.^[15]
• ^l – Caroline Hanlon accepted on behalf of the supporters.^[3]

In 2010 the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) refused the offer of a Fair Play award following the France and Republic of Ireland 2010 World Cup Play-offs handball controversy. CEO of the FAI John Delaney called FIFA President Sepp Blatter "an embarrassment to himself and an embarrassment to FIFA" for his handling and comments following the controversy.

References[]

External links[]

• FIFA.com information on awards^{[dead link]}