FIFA World Cup awards


At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game.

Awards

  • There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA Technical Study Group:
  • *the Golden Ball for best player, first awarded in 1982.
  • *the Golden Boot for top goalscorer, first awarded in 1982;
  • *the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper, first awarded in 1994;
  • *the FIFA Young Player Award for best player under 21 years of age at the start of the calendar year, first awarded in 2006;
  • *the FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team that advanced to the second round with the best record of fair play, first awarded in 1970.
  • There is currently one award voted on by fans during the tournament:
  • *the Player of the Match for outstanding performance during each match of the tournament, first awarded in 2002.
  • There are currently two awards voted on by fans after the conclusion of the tournament:
  • *the Goal of the Tournament, for the fans' best goal scored during the tournament, first awarded in 2006;
  • *the Most Entertaining Team for the team that has entertained the public the most, during the World Cup final tournament, as determined by a poll of the general public.
  • One other award was given between 1994 and 2006:
  • *an All-Star Team comprising the best players of the tournament chosen by the FIFA Technical Study Group. From 2010 onwards, all Dream Teams or Statistical Teams are unofficial, as reported by FIFA itself.

    Golden Ball

The Golden Ball award is presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup finals, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee and the winner voted for by representatives of the media. Those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball awards as the second and third most outstanding players in the tournament respectively. The current award was introduced in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, sponsored by Adidas and France Football. Oliver Kahn is to date the only goalkeeper to have won the award, which he did in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Lionel Messi became the first player to win a second Golden Ball.

Official winners (1982–present)

NationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
3014
2215
2204
1315
1124
1113
1001
0112
0101
0011
0011
0011
0011

Unofficial winner (1978 Argentina)

A group of journalists and experts selected the best player of the 1978 tournament, and their selection is recognised by the FIFA website. FIFA recognises only this selection besides the Golden Ball award. Hans Krankl received the same number of votes as Dirceu at the time, and was not chosen as the third best player by FIFA later.
WinnerRunner-upThird place
Mario Kempes Paolo Rossi Dirceu

Media's selections (1930–1974)

Authoritative football historian and statistician Ejikeme Ikwunze, popularly called "Mr. Football", published a list of the best players in his book World Cup : A Statistical Summary, and it gained the most attention among experts' selections about the best players until 1978. This work is part of the official FIFA library. A considerable number of other media agreed with him.
On 2 August 1950, Dr., the editor-in-chief of Kicker, chose his best players of the tournament.
France Football, the sponsor of Golden Ball and Ballon d'Or, selected the best player of the 1966 FIFA World Cup at that time with L'Équipe, and Bobby Charlton became the winner.
In 1998, the Argentinian newspaper Clarín provided a brief description of each star player dating back to 1930. Some are controversial decisions as is the case with retrospective awards. The 1998 winner was awarded after the tournament ended.

Golden Boot

The Golden Boot or Golden Shoe award goes to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup. While every World Cup had a ranking of the goalscorers, the first time an award was given was in 1982, under the name Golden Shoe. It was rechristened Golden Boot in 2010. FIFA sometimes lists the top goalscorers of previous Cups among the Golden Boot winners.
If there is more than one player with the same number of goals, since 1994 the tie-breaker goes to the player with more assists. If there is still more than one player, the tie is decided by minutes played in the tournament, with the player playing fewest minutes ranked first. A Silver Boot and a Bronze Boot are also awarded for the second and third-highest goalscorers respectively.

Golden Glove

The Golden Glove award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The award was introduced with the name "Lev Yashin Award" in 1994, in honor of the late Soviet goalkeeper. It was rechristened "Golden Glove" in 2010. The FIFA Technical Study Group recognises the top goalkeeper of the tournament based on the player's performance throughout the final competition. Although goalkeepers have this specific award for their position, they are still eligible for the Golden Ball as well, as when Oliver Kahn was awarded in 2002.

FIFA Young Player Award

The FIFA Young Player Award was awarded for the first time at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and given to Germany's Lukas Podolski. The award is given to the best player in the tournament who is at most 21 years old. For the 2022 World Cup, this meant that the player had to have been born on or after 1 January 2001.
In 2006, the election took place on FIFA's official World Cup website with the help of The FIFA Technical Study Group.
FIFA organised a survey on the Internet for users to choose the "Best Young Player" of the World Cup, between 1958 and 2002, named the best young player of each tournament. With 61% of the overall vote, the winner was Pelé, who finished ahead of the Peruvian Teófilo Cubillas, the best young player at Mexico 1970, and England's Michael Owen, who reached similar heights at France 98.
The winner of the award has only been part of the winning country three times. Pelé in 1958, Kylian Mbappé in 2018, and Enzo Fernández in 2022.
World CupFIFA Young PlayerAgePosition
1958 Sweden Pelé17Centre-Forward
1962 Chile Flórián Albert20Centre-Forward
1966 England Franz Beckenbauer20Sweeper-Defender
1970 Mexico Teófilo Cubillas21Attacking-Midfielder
1974 West Germany Władysław Żmuda20Centre-Back
1978 Argentina Antonio Cabrini20Left-Back
1982 Spain Manuel Amoros21Right-Back
1986 Mexico Enzo Scifo20Attacking-Midfielder
1990 Italy Robert Prosinečki21Centre-Midfielder
1994 United States Marc Overmars20Left-Winger
1998 France Michael Owen18Centre-Forward
2002 South Korea/Japan Landon Donovan20Second-Striker
2006 Germany Lukas Podolski21Second-Striker
2010 South Africa Thomas Müller20Second-Striker
2014 Brazil Paul Pogba21Centre-Midfielder
2018 Russia Kylian Mbappé19Right-Winger
2022 Qatar Enzo Fernández21Centre-Midfielder

FIFA Fair Play Trophy

The FIFA Fair Play Trophy is given to the team with the best record of fair play during the World Cup final tournament since 1970. Only teams that qualified for the second round are considered. The winners of this award earn the FIFA Fair Play Trophy, a diploma, a fair play medal for each player and official, and $50,000 worth of football equipment to be used for youth development.
The appearance of the award was originally a certificate. From 1982 to 1990, it was a golden trophy based on Sport Billy, a football-playing cartoon character from 1982 who became an icon for FIFA Fair play. Ever since 1994, it is simply a trophy with an elegant footballer figure. Peru was the first nation to win the award after receiving no yellow or red cards in the 1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico.
World CupFIFA Fair Play Trophy winners
1970 Mexico
1974 West Germany
1978 Argentina
1982 Spain
1986 Mexico
1990 Italy
1994 United States
1998 France
2002 South Korea/Japan
2006 Germany
2010 South Africa
2014 Brazil
2018 Russia
2022 Qatar