PFA Merit Award
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Sir Gareth Southgate and Emma Hayes are the most recent honorees in 2025
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 first woman to win the award was Steph Houghton in 2019. In 2022, the award was separated into two: women's and men's.
The most recent winners of the award are Sir Gareth Southgate and Emma Hayes.
List of winners
[edit | edit source]1970s
[edit | edit source]| Year | Winner(s) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 |  Sir Bobby Charlton CBE, OBE |
First winners of the award |
| Cliff Lloyd
| ||
| 1975 | Scotland Denis Law CBE | First winner of the award from outside England |
| 1976 | George Eastham OBE
| |
| 1977 | Jack Taylor OBE |
|
| 1978 | Scotland Bill Shankly OBE | |
| 1979 | Sir Tom Finney OBE
|
1980s
[edit | edit source]| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Scotland 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 | edit source]| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Peter Shilton OBE
| |
| 1991 | Scotland Tommy Hutchison | |
| 1992 | Brian Clough OBE
| |
| 1993 | Manchester United European Cup squad 1968 |
Republic of Ireland Shay Brennan and Republic of Ireland Tony Dunne Joint first winner of the award from outside Great Britain Joint first winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom |
| Portugal Eusébio | Joint first winner of the award from outside Great Britain Joint first winner of the award from outside the United Kingdom | |
| 1994 | Northern Ireland Billy Bingham MBE | |
| 1995 | Scotland Gordon Strachan OBE | |
| 1996 | Brazil Pelé | First winner of the award from outside Europe |
| 1997 | Peter Beardsley MBE
| |
| 1998 | Steve Ogrizovic
| |
| 1999 | Tony Ford MBE
|
2000s
[edit | edit source]
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2010s
[edit | edit source]| Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | South Africa Lucas Radebe | |
| 2011 | Howard Webb
| |
| 2012 | Scotland Graham Alexander | |
| 2013 | Manchester United Class of '92 | |
| 2014 | Donald Bell VC
| |
| 2015 | Steven Gerrard MBE[2]
| |
| Frank Lampard OBE[2]
| ||
| 2016 | Wales Ryan Giggs OBE[3] | |
| 2017 | David Beckham OBE
| |
| 2018 | Cyrille Regis MBE[4]
| |
| 2019 | Steph Houghton MBE[5]
|
First female to receive award. |
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2020s
[edit | edit source]| 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
| ||
| 2025 | Sir Gareth Southgate OBE
| |
| Emma Hayes OBE
|
Breakdown of winners
[edit | edit source]Winners by country
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ PFA Merit Award 1974-2007 Archived 15 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
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