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.

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
Uruguayan Football Association	2004		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		url=http://www.sheffieldfc.com/honours	title=Honours of Oldest Soccer Team in World	publisher=Sheffield FC	date=20 January 2018	access-date=20 January 2018	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120182235/http://www.sheffieldfc.com/honours	archive-date=20 January 2018	url-status=dead}}
	Real Madrid CF	2004		Centennial Award in 2004

Players

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Franz Beckenbauer*	1984, 2004		Centennial Award in 2004
Bobby Charlton	1984
Pelé	1984, 2004		Centennial Award in 2004
Dino Zoff	1984
	Lev Yashin	1988
Antonio Carbajal	1992
Stanley Matthews	1992
Francisco Varallo	1994
Alfredo Di Stéfano	1994
Fritz Walter	1994
Ferenc Puskás	1994
Eusébio	1994
Just Fontaine	1994
Gunn Nyborg	1994
Obdulio Varela	1994
Zico	1996
	Bobby Moore	1996
	Salif Keita	1996
	Michelle Akers	1998
	Larbi Benbarek	1998
	Gilmar	1998
	Gerd Müller	1998
	Ivan Toplak	2000
	David Kipiani	2002
Pradip Kumar Banerjee	2004		Centennial Award in 2004
Muhammad Umer	2004		Centennial Award in 2004
Hafizuddin Ahmed	2004		Centennial Award in 2004
	Lee Ramoon	2004
	Paolo Maldini	2008
	Johan Cruyff*	2010
	Steve Sumner	2010		Centennial Award in 2004
	Alcides Ghiggia	2010

Managers

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
Franz Beckenbauer*	1984, 2004		Centennial Award in 2004
	Helmut Schön	1984
	Mário Zagallo	1992
	Karl-Heinz Weigang	1998
	Miljan Miljanić*	2002
	Valeriy Lobanovskyi	2003
	Sein Hlaing	2004
	Bobby Robson	2009		Emerald Award
	Kazimierz Górski*	2006
	Nodar Akhalkatsi	2008
	Johan Cruyff*	2010
	Winston Chung Fah	2012
	Óscar Tabárez	2012

Referees

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
	Stanley Rous*	1984
Nikolay Latyshev	1987
	Thomas Wharton	1992
Farouk Bouzo	1996
Javier Arriaga Muñiz	1996
	Fernando G. Álvarez	2005
Hari Raj Naicker	2012

Administrators

Recipient	Year	Nationality	Notes
	Stanley Rous*	1984
	Mihajlo Andrejević	1984
	Paulo Machado de Carvalho	1987
	Ferdinand Hidalgo	1987
	Teófilo Salinas Fuller	1987
	Marat Gramov	1987
	João Lyra Filho	1988
	Pedro Escartín	1988
	Yidnekatchew Tessema	1988
	K. Ziauddin	1992
	Shizuo Fujita	1992
	Juan José Russo	1992
	Abdel Aziz Mostafa	1992
	Arthur George	1994
	Chen Chengda	1994
	Abdel Halim Mohamed	1994
	Gene Edwards	1994
	Vitali Smirnov	1995
	Maurice Burlaz	1996
	Henry Fok	1998
	Julio Grondona	1998
	Vyacheslav Koloskov	1998
	Bert Millichip	1998
	Guillermo Cañedo de la Bárcena	1998
	Abilio d'Almeida	2000
	Josep Lluís Núñez	2000
	Nabon Noor	2000
	Azrikam Miltchan	2000
	Horace Burrell	2000
	Faisal bin Fahd	2000
	Etubom Oyo Orok Oyo	2000
	Nikita Simonyan	2000
	Juan Antonio Samaranch	2001
	José Ermírio de Moraes Filho	2002
	Jim Fleming	2002
	Mohamed Khalil El Deeb	2002
	Santiago Bernabéu	2002
	Miljan Miljanić	2002
	Hans Ernst Bangerter	2002
	René Hüssy	2002
	Miljan Miljanić*	2002
	Johnny Warren	2004		url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/09/1089000355067.html	title=Global game honours fighter Warren	work=The Sydney Morning Herald	date=10 July 2004	access-date=20 January 2018	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428110221/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/09/1089000355067.html	archive-date=28 April 2007	url-status=live}}
	João Havelange	2004		Centennial Award in 2004
	Jules Rimet	2004		Centennial Award in 2004
	Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah	2004
	Jan Peeters	2006
	Issa Hayatou	2006
	Egidius Braun	2006
	Oscar Thamar Torres	2006
	Saburō Kawabuchi	2006
	Hamzah Abu Samah	2006
	Guyedre Wamedjo	2006
	Per Ravn Omdal	2006
	Kazimierz Górski*	2006
	Aleksei Paramonov	2006
	Alan Rothenberg	2006
	Nicolás Abumohor	2008
	Zhang Jilong	2008
	Isaac David Sasso Sasso	2008
	Nodar Akhalkatsi	2008
	Helen Leuthardt-Petermann	2008
	Leszek Rylski	2009		Ruby Award*
	Lisle Austin	2010
	Holger Obermann	2010
	Junji Ogura	2010
	Molefi Oliphant	2010
	Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder	2012
	György Szepesi	2012
	Ahmad Shah of Pahang	2012
	Godfried Foli Ekue	2012

• in diamond, ruby or emerald

Other individuals

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

Other collectives

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

Commercial brands

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