FIFA Fair Play Award

Ball boys in Somalia hold 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

Source^[1]

Year	Winner	Reason	Notes
1987	Fans of Dundee United	Fans' good behaviour towards winners IFK Göteborg in 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	Spectators of Trinidad and Tobago	Sporting behaviour despite home loss to the United States in their final match in the 1989 CONCACAF Championship
1990	Gary Lineker	Entire 15-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	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
	The Football Association of Zambia	Efforts of the reconstituted national team in the wake of 1993 Zambia national football team air disaster.
1994	Not awarded
1995	Jacques Glassmann	Courageous attitude 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 Zovinec (Slovak amateur player)	60 years of amateur football without receiving a yellow card.
	Julie Foudy	Efforts against child labour, becoming the first woman and first American to win the award.
1998	The United States Soccer Federation	Sportsmanship surrounding their World Cup match, despite mutual political tensions for nearly 20 years.
	The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran
	The Irish Football Association of Northern Ireland	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.
2002	Football communities of Japan and Korea Republic	Demonstrating a spirit of brotherhood and sportsmanship by co-hosting the 2002 World Cup.
2003	Fans of Celtic	Exemplary behaviour in the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, despite Celtic losing 3–2 in extra-time to Porto.
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.
2005	Community of Iquitos, Peru	Wholehearted support of the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, and contribution to football.
2006	Fans of the 2006 World Cup.	Fans' fair play, mutual respect, and special atmosphere created inside and outside the stadiums.
2007	FC Barcelona	Rejecting lucrative shirt sponsorship deals and instead carrying the UNICEF logo.	[4]
2008	The Turkish Football Federation	Encouraging dialogue between two countries which otherwise do not have any form of diplomatic relationship.	[5]
	The Football Federation of Armenia
2009	Bobby Robson	Posthumously awarded for commitment to fair play shown throughout his career as a player and coach.	[6]
2010	Haiti women's national under-17 football team	Enduring hardships in wake of 2010 Haiti earthquake.	[7]
2011	Japan Football Association	Enduring hardships in wake of 2011 Japan earthquake, while winning the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
2012	Uzbekistan Football Federation	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.	[8]
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	Paolo Lamanna	Working to avoid fights in Tiki Taka tournament.

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.^[9] The following year, he moved to Cologne.
• ^l – Caroline Hanlon accepted on behalf of the supporters.^[3]

In 2010 Football Association of Ireland refused the offer of a Fair Play award following the France v Rep of Ireland 2010 World Cup Play-off handball controversy. CEO of the Football Association called Sepp Blatter "an embarrassment to himself and an embarrassment to FIFA" for his handling and comments following the controversy.

References

• FIFA.com information on awards