FIFA Order of Merit

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.

FIFA Order of Merit
The FIFA Order of Merit
Awarded by FIFA
Type	Order of merit
Eligibility	Any individual
Awarded for	"significant contribution to the development of association football"
Status	Active
Grades	1
Statistics
First induction	1984
Last induction	2012
Total inductees	121

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

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol	2004	Uruguay	Centennial Award in 2004
African Football	2004		Centennial Award in 2004
International Football Association Board	2004		Centennial Award in 2004

Clubs

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Sheffield F.C.	2004	England	Centennial Award in 2004[1]
Real Madrid C.F.	2004	Spain	Centennial Award in 2004

Players

Pelé was named Athlete of Century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999

Johan Cruyff received the award for his contributions as both footballer and a coach

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Franz Beckenbauer*	1984, 2004	Germany	Centennial Award in 2004
Bobby Charlton	1984	England
Pelé	1984, 2004	Brazil	Centennial Award in 2004
Dino Zoff	1984	Italy
Lev Yashin	1988	Soviet Union
Antonio Carbajal	1992	Mexico
Stanley Matthews	1992	England
Francisco Varallo	1994	Argentina
Alfredo Di Stefano	1994	Argentina
Fritz Walter	1994	Germany
Ferenc Puskás	1994	Hungary
Eusébio	1994	Portugal
Just Fontaine	1994	France
Gunn Nyborg	1994	Norway
Obdulio Varela	1994	Uruguay
Zico[2]	1996	Brazil
Bobby Moore	1996	England
Salif Keita	1996	Mali
Michelle Akers	1998	United States
Larbi Benbarek	1998	Morocco
Gilmar	1998	Brazil
Gerd Müller	1998	Germany
Ivan Toplak	2000	Slovenia
David Kipiani	2002	Georgia
Pradip Kumar Banerjee	2004	India	Centennial Award in 2004
Muhammad Umer	2004	Pakistan	Centennial Award in 2004
Hafizuddin Ahmed	2004	Bangladesh	Centennial Award in 2004
Lee Ramoon	2004	Cayman Islands
Paolo Maldini	2008	Italy
Johan Cruijff*	2010	Netherlands
Steve Sumner	2010	New Zealand	Centennial Award in 2004
Alcides Ghiggia	2010	Uruguay

Managers

Oscar Tabaréz is the last person to receive the FIFA Order of Merit for his contributions as a coach

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Franz Beckenbauer*	1984, 2004	Germany	Centennial Award in 2004
Helmut Schön	1984	Germany
Mário Zagallo	1992	Brazil
Karl Heinz Weigang	1998	Germany
Miljan Miljanić*	2002	Serbia
Valeriy Lobanovskyi	2003	Ukraine
Sein Hlaing	2004	Myanmar
Bobby Robson	2009	England	Emerald Award [3]
Kazimierz Górski*	2006	Poland
Nodar Akhalkatsi	2008	Georgia
Johan Cruijff*	2010	Netherlands
Winston Chung Fah	2012	Jamaica
Óscar Tabárez	2012	Uruguay

Referees

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Stanley Rous*	1984	England
Nikolay Latyshev	1987	Soviet Union
Thomas Wharton	1992	Scotland
Farouk Bouzo	1996	Syria
Javier Arriaga Muñiz	1996	Mexico
Fernando G. Álvarez	2005	Philippines
Hari Raj Naicker	2012	Fiji

Administrators

The 6th President of FIFA Stanley Rous was also serving as the international referee

Santiago Bernabeu is generally considered the one to whom much of the credit can be given for transforming Real Madrid C.F. into the most successful football club in Spain and in Europe

Miljan Miljanić became the recipient of the award posthumously for his contributions as a coach and the President of the Football Federation of Yugoslavia/Serbia

Jules Rimet is FIFA's longest-serving president and the initiator of the first FIFA World Cup

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Stanley Rous*	1984	England
Mihajlo Andrejević	1984	Yugoslavia
Paulo Machado de Carvalho	1987	Brazil
Ferdinand Hidalgo	1987	Ecuador
Teófilo Salinas Fuller	1987	Peru
Marat Gramov	1987	Soviet Union
João Lyra Filho	1988	Brazil
Pedro Escartín	1988	Spain
Yidnekatchew Tessema	1988	Ethiopia
K. Ziauddin	1992	India
Shizuo Fujita	1992	Japan
Juan José Russo	1992	Argentina
Abdel Aziz Mostafa	1992	Egypt
Arthur George	1994	Australia
Chen Chengda	1994	China
Abdel Halim Muhammad	1994	Sudan
Gene Edwards	1994	United States
Vitali Smirnov	1995	Russia
Maurice Burlaz	1996	France
Henry Fok	1998	Hong Kong
Julio Grondona	1998	Argentina
Vyacheslav Koloskov	1998	Russia
Bert Millichip	1998	England
Guillermo Cañedo de la Bárcena	1998	Mexico
Abilio d'Almeida	2000	Brazil
Josep Lluís Núñez	2000	Spain
Nabon Noor	2000	Indonesia
Azrikam Miltchan	2000	Israel
Horace Burrell	2000	Jamaica
Faisal bin Fahd	2000	Saudi Arabia
Etubom Oyo Orok Oyo	2000	Nigeria
Nikita Simonyan	2000	Russia
Juan Antonio Samaranch	2001	Spain
José Ermírio de Moraes Filho	2002	Brazil
Jim Fleming	2002	Canada
Mohamed Khalil El Deeb	2002	Egypt
Santiago Bernabéu	2002	Spain
Miljan Miljanić	2002	Serbia
Hans Ernst Bangerter	2002	Switzerland
René Hüssy	2002	Switzerland
Miljan Miljanić*	2002	Serbia
Johnny Warren	2004	Australia	Centennial Award in 2004[4]
João Havelange	2004	Brazil	Centennial Award in 2004
Jules Rimet	2004	France	Centennial Award in 2004
Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah	2004	Kuwait
Jan Peeters	2006	Belgium
Issa Hayatou	2006	Cameroon
Egidius Braun	2006	Germany
Oscar Thamar Torres	2006	Guatemala
Saburō Kawabuchi	2006	Japan
Hamzah Abu Samah	2006	Malaysia
Guyedre Wamedjo	2006	New Caledonia
Per Ravn Omdal	2006	Norway
Kazimierz Górski*	2006	Poland
Aleksei Paramonov	2006	Russia
Alan Rothenberg	2006	United States
Nicolás Abumohor	2008	Chile
Zhang Jilong	2008	China
Isaac David Sasso Sasso	2008	Costa Rica
Nodar Akhalkatsi	2008	Georgia
Helen Leuthardt-Petermann	2008	Switzerland
Leszek Rylski	2009	Poland	Ruby Award* [5]
Lisle Austin	2010	Barbados
Holger Obermann	2010	Germany
Junji Ogura	2010	Japan
Molefi Oliphant	2010	South Africa
Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder	2012	Germany
György Szepesi	2012	Hungary
Ahmad Shah of Pahang	2012	Malaysia
Godfried Foli Ekue	2012	Togo

*in diamond, ruby or emerald ^[6]

Other individuals

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Roberto Marinho	1987	Brazil
Everwijn van Steeden	1987	England
Emilio Azcárraga Milmo	1987	Mexico
Diego Lucero	1987	Uruguay
Pedro Ramírez Vázquez	1988	Mexico
Karl-Heinz Heimann	1992	Germany
Walter Lutz	1992	Switzerland
Henry Kissinger	1996	United States
Douglas Ivester	1996	United States
Udo Jürgens	1996	Germany
Fernand Sastre	1998	France
Nelson Mandela	1998	South Africa
Erwin Himmelseher	2000	Germany
Kofi Annan	2002	Ghana
Thaksin Shinawatra	2004	Thailand
Robert Louis-Dreyfus	2006	France
Otto Schily	2006	Germany
Rudi Michel	2006	Germany
Mohammed Yusuf	2008	Fiji
Alpha Oumar Konaré	2008	Mali
Thabo Mbeki	2010	South Africa

Other collectives

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Television	2004		Centennial Award in 2004
The City of Sheffield	2004	England	Centennial Award in 2004
Fans of Japan	2004	Japan	Centennial Award in 2004
Fans of Korea	2004	South Korea	Centennial Award in 2004

Commercial brands

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Adidas	2004	Germany	Centennial Award in 2004
Coca-Cola	2004	United States	Centennial Award in 2004
Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive	2004	France	Centennial Award in 2004