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 doesn't 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
Clubs
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 Stefano | 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 | |
| Lee Ramoon | 2004 | ||
| Paolo Maldini | 2008 | ||
| Bobby Robson | 2009 | ||
| Johan Cruijff* | 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 | ||
| Kazimierz Górski* | 2006 | ||
| Nodar Akhalkatsi | 2008 | ||
| Johan Cruijff* | 2010 | ||
| Winston Chung-Fah | 2012 | ||
| Óscar Tabárez | 2012 |
Referees
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 Muhammad | 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 | Centennial Award in 2004 | |
| 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 | ||
| 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 |