The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football.
At FIFA's centennial congress they made one award for every decade of their existence. These awards were also handed out to fans, organisations, clubs, and one to African Football. These were referred to as the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit.
The winner does not have to be directly involved with football to receive it. One such notable non-footballing personality was Nelson Mandela who won it for bringing South Africa back to international football.
Recipients
Personalities directly involved in football
Associations
RecipientYearNationalityNotesUruguayan Football Association2004 Centennial Award in 2004Confederation of African Football2004 Centennial Award in 2004International Football Association Board2004 Centennial Award in 2004
Clubs
RecipientYearNationalityNotesSheffield FC2004 Centennial Award in 2004Real Madrid2004 Centennial Award in 2004
Players
RecipientYearNationalityNotesFranz Beckenbauer*1984, 2004 Centennial Award in 2004Bobby Charlton1984Pelé1984, 2004 Centennial Award in 2004Dino Zoff1984Lev Yashin1988Antonio Carbajal1992Sir Stanley Matthews1992Francisco Varallo1994Alfredo Di Stéfano1994Fritz Walter1994Ferenc Puskás1994Eusébio1994Just Fontaine1994Gunn Nyborg1994Obdulio Varela1994Zico1996Bobby Moore1996Salif Keita1996Michelle Akers1998Larbi Benbarek1998Gilmar1998Gerd Müller1998Ivan Toplak2000David Kipiani2002Pradip Kumar Banerjee2004Centennial Award in 2004Muhammad Umer2004Centennial Award in 2004Hafizuddin Ahmed2004Centennial Award in 2004Lee Ramoon2004Paolo Maldini2008Johan Cruyff*2010Steve Sumner2010Centennial Award in 2004Alcides Ghiggia2010
Managers
RecipientYearNationalityNotesFranz Beckenbauer*1984, 2004 Centennial Award in 2004Helmut Schön1984Mário Zagallo1992Karl-Heinz Weigang1998Miljan Miljanić*2002Valeriy Lobanovskyi2003Sein Hlaing2004Bobby Robson2009 Emerald Award Kazimierz Górski*2006Nodar Akhalkatsi2008Johan Cruyff*2010Winston Chung Fah2012Óscar Tabárez2012
Referees
RecipientYearNationalityNotesSir Stanley Rous*1984Nikolay Latyshev1987Thomas Wharton1992Farouk Bouzo1996Javier Arriaga Muñiz1996Fernando G. Álvarez2005Hari Raj Naicker2012
Administrators
RecipientYearNationalityNotesSir Stanley Rous*1984Mihajlo Andrejević1984Paulo Machado de Carvalho1987Ferdinand Hidalgo1987Teófilo Salinas Fuller1987Marat Gramov1987João Lyra Filho1988Pedro Escartín1988Yidnekatchew Tessema1988K. Ziauddin1992Shizuo Fujita1992Juan José Russo1992Abdel Aziz Mostafa1992Sir Arthur George1994Chen Chengda1994Abdel Halim Mohamed1994Gene Edwards1994Vitali Smirnov1995Maurice Burlaz1996Henry Fok1998Julio Grondona1998Vyacheslav Koloskov1998Bert Millichip1998Guillermo Cañedo de la Bárcena1998Abilio d'Almeida2000Josep Lluís Núñez2000Nabon Noor2000Azrikam Miltchan2000Horace Burrell2000Faisal bin Fahd2000Etubom Oyo Orok Oyo2000Nikita Simonyan2000Juan Antonio Samaranch2001José Ermírio de Moraes Filho2002Jim Fleming2002Mohamed Khalil El Deeb2002Santiago Bernabéu2002Miljan Miljanić2002Hans Ernst Bangerter2002René Hüssy2002Miljan Miljanić*2002Johnny Warren2004Centennial Award in 2004João Havelange2004 Centennial Award in 2004Jules Rimet2004 Centennial Award in 2004Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah2004Jan Peeters2006Issa Hayatou2006Egidius Braun2006Oscar Thamar Torres2006Saburō Kawabuchi2006Hamzah Abu Samah2006Guyedre Wamedjo2006Per Ravn Omdal2006Kazimierz Górski*2006Aleksei Paramonov2006Alan Rothenberg2006Nicolás Abumohor2008Zhang Jilong2008Isaac David Sasso Sasso2008Nodar Akhalkatsi2008Helen Leuthardt-Petermann2008Leszek Rylski2009 Ruby Award* Lisle Austin2010Holger Obermann2010Junji Ogura2010Molefi Oliphant2010Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder2012György Szepesi2012Ahmad Shah of Pahang2012Godfried Foli Ekue2012 *in diamond, ruby or emerald
Other individuals
RecipientYearNationalityNotesRoberto Marinho1987Everwijn van Steeden1987Emilio Azcárraga Milmo1987Diego Lucero1987Pedro Ramírez Vázquez1988Karl-Heinz Heimann1992Walter Lutz1992Henry Kissinger1996Douglas Ivester1996Udo Jürgens1996Fernand Sastre1998Nelson Mandela1998Erwin Himmelseher2000Kofi Annan2002Thaksin Shinawatra2004Robert Louis-Dreyfus2006Otto Schily2006Rudi Michel2006Mohammed Yusuf2008Alpha Oumar Konaré2008Thabo Mbeki2010
Other collectives
RecipientYearNationalityNotesTelevision2004 Centennial Award in 2004The City of Sheffield2004Centennial Award in 2004Fans of Japan2004 Centennial Award in 2004Fans of Korea2004 Centennial Award in 2004
Commercial brands
RecipientYearNationalityNotesAdidas2004 Centennial Award in 2004Coca-Cola2004 Centennial Award in 2004Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive2004 Centennial Award in 2004
References
External links