PFA Merit Award

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Steven Gerrard, 2014.jpg
Frank Lampard'13-14.JPG
Steven Gerrard of Liverpool and Frank Lampard of Chelsea were joint winners in 2015

The Professional Footballers' Association Merit Award (often called the PFA Merit Award, or simply the Merit Award) is an award given by the Professional Footballers' Association (the PFA) for meritorious service to football. [1]

Contents

The award was first given in 1974, and was won (jointly) by Bobby Charlton and Cliff Lloyd. The latest winners of the award are Ian Wright and Jill Scott.

List of winners

1970s

YearWinner(s)Note
1974 Flag of England.svg Sir Bobby Charlton CBE, OBE First winners of the award
Flag of England.svg Cliff Lloyd
1975 Flag of Scotland.svg Denis Law CBE First winner of the award from outside England
1976 Flag of England.svg George Eastham OBE
1977 Flag of England.svg Jack Taylor OBE
1978 Flag of Scotland.svg Bill Shankly OBE
1979 Flag of England.svg Sir Tom Finney OBE

1980s

YearWinner(s)Notes
1980 Flag of Scotland.svg Sir Matt Busby OBE
1981 Flag of England.svg John Trollope MBE
1982 Flag of England.svg Joe Mercer OBE
1983 Flag of England.svg Bob Paisley OBE
1984 Flag of England.svg Bill Nicholson OBE
1985 Flag of England.svg Ron Greenwood CBE
1986 Flag of England.svg England World Cup squad 1966
1987 Flag of England.svg Sir Stanley Matthews CBE
1988 Flag of England.svg Billy Bonds MBE
1989 Flag of England.svg Nat Lofthouse OBE

1990s

YearWinner(s)Notes
1990 Flag of England.svg Peter Shilton OBE
1991 Flag of Scotland.svg Tommy Hutchison
1992 Flag of England.svg Brian Clough OBE
1993 Flag of England.svg Manchester United European Cup squad 1968 Flag of Ireland.svg Shay Brennan and Flag of Ireland.svg Tony Dunne
Joint first winner of the award from outside Great Britain
Joint first winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom
Flag of Portugal.svg Eusébio Joint first winner of the award from outside Great Britain
Joint first winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom
1994 Ulster Banner.svg Billy Bingham MBE
1995 Flag of Scotland.svg Gordon Strachan OBE
1996 Flag of Brazil.svg Pelé First winner of the award from outside Europe
1997 Flag of England.svg Peter Beardsley MBE
1998 Flag of England.svg Steve Ogrizovic
1999 Flag of England.svg Tony Ford MBE

2000s

YearWinner(s)Notes
2000 Flag of England.svg Gary Mabbutt MBE
2001 Flag of England.svg Jimmy Hill OBE
2002 Flag of Ireland.svg Niall Quinn
2003 Flag of England.svg Sir Bobby Robson CBE
2004 Flag of Italy.svg Dario Gradi MBE
2005 Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg Shaka Hislop CM
2006 Ulster Banner.svg George Best
2007 Flag of Scotland.svg Sir Alex Ferguson CBE
2008 Flag of England.svg Jimmy Armfield OBE
2009 Flag of England.svg John McDermott

2010s

YearWinner(s)Notes
2010 Flag of South Africa.svg Lucas Radebe
2011 Flag of England.svg Howard Webb
2012 Flag of Scotland.svg Graham Alexander
2013 Manchester United Class of '92
2014 Flag of England.svg Donald Bell VC
2015 Flag of England.svg Steven Gerrard MBE [2]
Flag of England.svg Frank Lampard OBE [2]
2016 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Ryan Giggs OBE [3]
2017 Flag of England.svg David Beckham OBE
2018 Flag of England.svg Cyrille Regis MBE [4]
2019 Flag of England.svg Steph Houghton MBE [5] First female to receive award.

2020s

YearWinner(s)Notes
2020 Flag of England.svg Marcus Rashford MBE [6]
2021 Flag of England.svg Gordon Taylor OBE [7]
2022 Flag of England.svg Roy Hodgson CBE [8]
Flag of England.svg Hope Powell OBE [9] First time men's and women's PFA Merit awards were separated
2023 Flag of England.svg Ian Wright OBE [10]
Flag of England.svg Jill Scott MBE [10]
2024 Flag of England.svg Dean Lewington
Flag of England.svg Fara Williams MBE

Breakdown of winners

Winners by country

CountryNumber of wins
Flag of England.svg  England 37
Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 7
Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland 2
Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago 1
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Flag of Ireland.svg  Republic of Ireland
Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales

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References

  1. PFA Merit Award 1974-2007 Archived 15 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 "Gerrard & Lampard share PFA Merit Award". Goal.com. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  3. Sports, PA. "Ryan Giggs wins PFA Merit award". thepfa.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  4. "PFA Merit Award winner Cyrille Regis". thepfa.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  5. "PFA Merit Award winner Steph Houghton". thepfa.com. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  6. "Rashford wins PFA Award". manutd.com. Manchester United. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  7. "Gordon Taylor receives PFA merit award for his services to football". sportsmole.co.uk. Sports Mole. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. "Roy Hodgson wins PFA Merit Award". PFA. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  9. "Hope Powell wins PFA Merit Award". PFA. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Rachel Daly and Erling Haaland win PFA player of the year awards". The Guardian. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.