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]
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
edit1970s
edit| Year | Winner(s) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 |  Sir Bobby Charlton CBE, OBE |
First winners of the award |
| Cliff Lloyd
| ||
| 1975 |  Denis Law CBE |
First winner of the award from outside England |
| 1976 | George Eastham OBE
| |
| 1977 | Jack Taylor OBE |
|
| 1978 | Bill Shankly OBE
| |
| 1979 | Sir Tom Finney OBE
|
1980s
edit| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Sir Matt Busby OBE
| |
| 1981 | John Trollope MBE
| |
| 1982 | Joe Mercer OBE
| |
| 1983 | Bob Paisley OBE
| |
| 1984 | Bill Nicholson OBE
| |
| 1985 | Ron Greenwood CBE
| |
| 1986 | England World Cup squad 1966
| |
| 1987 | Sir Stanley Matthews CBE
| |
| 1988 | Billy Bonds MBE
| |
| 1989 | Nat Lofthouse OBE
|
1990s
edit| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Peter Shilton OBE
| |
| 1991 | Tommy Hutchison
| |
| 1992 | Brian Clough OBE
| |
| 1993 | Manchester United European Cup squad 1968 |
 Shay Brennan and Tony DunneJoint first winner of the award from outside Great Britain Joint first winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom |
 Eusébio |
Joint first winner of the award from outside Great Britain Joint first winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom | |
| 1994 |  Billy Bingham MBE
| |
| 1995 | Gordon Strachan OBE
| |
| 1996 |  Pelé |
First winner of the award from outside Europe |
| 1997 | Peter Beardsley MBE
| |
| 1998 | Steve Ogrizovic
| |
| 1999 | Tony Ford MBE
|
2000s
edit| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Gary Mabbutt MBE
| |
| 2001 | Jimmy Hill OBE
| |
| 2002 | Niall Quinn
| |
| 2003 | Sir Bobby Robson CBE
| |
| 2004 |  Dario Gradi MBE
| |
| 2005 |  Shaka Hislop CM
| |
| 2006 | George Best
| |
| 2007 | Sir Alex Ferguson CBE
| |
| 2008 | Jimmy Armfield OBE
| |
| 2009 | John McDermott
|
2010s
edit| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 |  Lucas Radebe
| |
| 2011 | Howard Webb
| |
| 2012 | Graham Alexander
| |
| 2013 | Manchester United Class of '92 | |
| 2014 | Donald Bell VC
| |
| 2015 | Steven Gerrard MBE[2]
| |
| Frank Lampard OBE[2]
| ||
| 2016 |  Ryan Giggs OBE[3]
| |
| 2017 | David Beckham OBE
| |
| 2018 | Cyrille Regis MBE[4]
| |
| 2019 | Steph Houghton MBE[5]
|
First female to receive award. |
2020s
edit| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Marcus Rashford MBE[6]
| |
| 2021 | Gordon Taylor OBE[7]
| |
| 2022 | Roy Hodgson CBE[8]
| |
| Hope Powell OBE[9] |
First time men's and women's PFA Merit awards were separated | |
| 2023 | Ian Wright OBE[10]
| |
| Jill Scott MBE[10]
| ||
| 2024 | Dean Lewington
| |
| Fara Williams MBE
|
Breakdown of winners
editWinners by country
edit| Country | Number of wins |
|---|---|
| England |
37 |
| Scotland |
7 |
| Northern Ireland |
2 |
| Trinidad and Tobago |
1 |
| Italy
| |
| Republic of Ireland
| |
| Brazil
| |
| Portugal
| |
| South Africa
| |
| Wales
|
References
edit- ^ PFA Merit Award 1974-2007 Archived 15 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Gerrard & Lampard share PFA Merit Award". Goal.com. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
- ^ Sports, PA. "Ryan Giggs wins PFA Merit award". thepfa.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
- ^ "PFA Merit Award winner Cyrille Regis". thepfa.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
- ^ "PFA Merit Award winner Steph Houghton". thepfa.com. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^ "Rashford wins PFA Award". manutd.com. Manchester United. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ^ "Gordon Taylor receives PFA merit award for his services to football". sportsmole.co.uk. Sports Mole. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ^ "Roy Hodgson wins PFA Merit Award". PFA. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ "Hope Powell wins PFA Merit Award". PFA. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ a b "Rachel Daly and Erling Haaland win PFA player of the year awards". The Guardian. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.