Fabrice Muamba Launches New Barclays Merit Award

Barclays, title sponsor of the Barclays Premier League, has teamed up with former player Fabrice Muamba to launch a new Barclays Merit Award. The new award will identify landmark career milestones, outstanding sportsmanship and the exceptional work of unsung club heroes at the 20 Barclays Premier League clubs.

This season, Barclays has been thanking fans and community heroes for making the Barclays Premier League what it is, and now it is the turn of the players, managers and unsung club heroes to be recognised for those things that make the game special.

The Barclays Merit Award will acknowledge the following three distinct categories:

• Performance Milestone: A player or manager who achieves the best in sporting performance and service over the course of his career
• Unsung Club Hero: A member of staff who is respected for their hard work and selfless dedication to a Barclays Premier League club
• Spirit of the Game: An outstanding act of sportsmanship by a player or manager

Barclays is speaking to all 20 Barclays Premier League clubs and other stakeholders to ask for their nominations for the unsung club hero category of the award and partner Opta will use statistical data to identify the outstanding performance milestones throughout the season.

The two categories, alongside the spirit of the game category will then be put to a selection panel, including Muamba, and the winners will be announced at various relevant points during the season.

Muamba, who played 167 times in the Barclays Premier League, has first-hand experience of how important unsung heroes are to a football club after he collapsed during an FA Cup match at White Hart Lane in March 2012.

Speaking at the launch, Muamba said: “I am delighted to be involved with the Barclays Merit Award and can speak from personal experience of the incredible role unsung heroes can play. My story is well documented and I will always be grateful to the medical staff that saved my life. They would definitely get my vote for the unsung hero award.”

David Wheldon, Managing Director of Brand, Reputation and Citizenship at Barclays, added: “The Barclays Premier League is watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world and such popularity brings a lot of scrutiny. Yet there are great achievements, selfless acts and years of dedication and service that make football and the Barclays Premier League what it is, and through the Barclays Merit Award we can say thank you to those who really do make football so special.”

Fans on the Barclays Football social media channels will be asked to contribute to the conversation about the Barclays Merit Award throughout the season with a series of posts, polls, image galleries and competitions.