PFA Merit Award
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
_(cropped).jpg)
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.
1970s
| 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
1990s
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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 | ||