FIFA Presidential Award

The FIFA Presidential Award is an Association football award given annually at the FIFA World Player Gala. It was first awarded by the incumbent President of FIFA Sepp Blatter in 2001, and has been awarded each year since.^[1]

Year	FIFA Presidential Award	Notes
2001	Marvin Lee	Awarded to the former Trinidad and Tobago's U-20 captain who was paralysed after an injury sustained in an international for them in March 2001.[2]
2002	Parminder Nagra	Awarded for her role as Jess, in football film Bend It Like Beckham, who portrayed a Punjabi girl growing up in West London determined to play football, despite strong objections from her family. "The film deals with issues of cultural conformity and serves superbly to bring women's football into the spotlight as a game for all women of all cultures."[2][3]
2003	The Iraqi Football Community	Awarded for the nation's energy and determination to drive forward the development of football despite the difficult situation in the country.[2][4] The Iraqi Community was represented at the ceremony by Hussein Saeed^[A], Bernd Stange^[B] and Naji Husam.^[C]
2004	Haiti	Awarded in recognition of Haiti and Brazil's "Match for Peace" played by the two association's national teams in Port-au-Prince on 18 August, which used football to bring together people and fight against discrimination.[2][5][6]
2005	Anders Frisk	Awarded after a premature end to his career as a leading international referee in March 2005, following death threats and abuse to him and his family following a UEFA Champions League match between Chelsea and Barcelona.[2][7]
2006	Giacinto Facchetti	Awarded posthumously after he lost his fight to pancreatic cancer[8] earlier in the year. It recognised him as one of the La Grande Inter and a founding fathers of catenaccio defending.[9] The former Inter president was also commended for his service as a member of the FIFA Football Committee and as a FIFA coaching instructor.[2]
2007	Pelé	Awarded 50 years after his international debut[10] in recognition of outstanding services to the game and more specifically his immense contribution to football's growth in popularity and as a spectacle.[11] Also for using his unique status as "the best player the world has ever known"[12] to combat social injustice, poverty and discrimination. He fulfills this role as amassadors of UNESCO and the WHO, and within UNICEF and football itself, not least through his membership of FIFA's Football Committee.[12]
2008	Women's association football	Heather O'Reilly represented women's football and collected the award.[13]
2009	Queen Rania of Jordan	For her commitment shown to the 1GOAL: Education for All initiative, encouraging millions of politicians, musicians, footballers and fans of football across the world to provide access to education for all.[14]
2010	Desmond Tutu	[15]
2011	Sir Alex Ferguson	[16]
2012	Franz Beckenbauer	[17]
2013	Jacques Rogge	[18]
2014	Hiroshi Kagawa

Notes

A^ : President of the Iraqi Football Association at the time.

B^ :The German coach of the Iraq national football team at the time.

C^ : Iraq national football team captain at the time.

References

1. "Presidential Award". FIFA.
2. "Presidential Award" (PDF). Infoplus (FIFA).
3. "Parminder Nagra: They chalked the side of my foot". FIFA.
4. "Stars come out for 13th FIFA World Player Gala". FIFA.
5. "Brazil takes on football-crazy Haiti". BBC. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
6. "Presidential Award for Haiti, Fair Play Award to Brazil". FIFA.
7. "Ronaldinho wins world award again". BBC. 19 December 2005. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
8. "Obituaries – Giacinto Facchetti". The Times (UK). 5 September 2006. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
9. "FIFA.com – Presidential Award for Giacinto Facchetti". FIFA. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
10. "Seven the number for Pele". FIFA.
11. "Pele: What an honour!". Fifa.
12. "Presidential Award" (PDF). Infoplus (FIFA).
13. "Women earn Presidential Award". FIFA. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
14. "Queen Rania of Jordan receives FIFA Presidential Award". FIFA. 21 December 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
15. "Presidential Award". FIFA. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
16. "Presidential Award". FIFA. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
17. "Beckenbauer receives FIFA Presidential Award 2012". FIFA. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
18. "Jacques Rogge wins FIFA Presidential Award". Marca. Retrieved 13 January 2014.