While there is no universal manner as to what recipients get, there is a general consensus that sponsors and/or media and even fans in some instances have a say in who is voted Man of the Match.
This award has its own novel, comical to unusual side that gets recipients and fans alike all surprised.
Some seasons ago, Sweden’s Elfsborg would award its Man of the Match with keys to a Porsche that the player would drive until the next home game. Here in South Africa the Telkom Knockout Man of the Match got 5GB of data. In Zimbabwe it was and is still conjoint that a Man of the Match would get 24 beers for all their 90 minutes effort – wonder what happens to someone whose faith does not allow association let alone consumption of alcohol if they would still accept such an award.
In Scotland players have received bicycles as a Man of the Match award. The Ghana professional league is known to have awarded flip flops (diklapklap) for its Man of the Match Award – perhaps something to allow the player’s feet to breathe. If you thought that is weird you have to think of Poland where a Man of the Match get to receive a live chicken – from the stadium to the pot or into a coop – I guess that is entirely the decision of the recipient. I guess the weirdest of them all would be the award given to La Liga’s Real Sociedad’s Martin Ødegaard who got a fish for being Player of the Month.
Not to be outdone cricket has also joined the fray of weird awards. The 2019 World Cup-winning captain, Eoin Morgan, was given a rice cooker for his match-winning performance in the Dhaka Premier League as did English all-rounder, Luke Wright, who was awarded a blender.
It remains to be seen how innovative sponsors will get in the years to come but in the meantime we have to get used to seeing players receiving the unusual awards and hope it spurs them to dizzy heights in their later engagements.
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