In 2001, Paolo Di Canio won the FIFA Fair Play award for this noteworthy display of sportsmanship in a game against Everton. Di Canio shunned a goal scoring opportunity and caught the ball while the Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was lying injured on the ground. FIFA had described the act as “a special act of good sportsmanship.”
Some other FIFA fair player winners can be seen here– among them Gary Lineker .Gary won the award in 1990 for being a rarity in football – he had never been sent off in his entire career .
3 comments on “FIFA fair play awards 2001 -Paolo Di Canio”
I guess this act of sportsmanship makes up for the fascist salutes.
Not only was Gary Lineker never sent off, he was not booked in his whole professional career (although this is obviously easier for a striker than a defender to achieve)
Not really. Di Canio seems to have gone over to the darkside when he joined up Lazio and became a favourite of the irreducibli.
Giacinto Facchetti was another player who was carded only once in his 500+ matches for Inter.