The Funniest Player of The Match Awards in The World (Top 10 Ranked)

The Funniest Player of The Match Awards in The World (Top 10 Ranked)

You've just put in a masterclass performance. Ninety minutes of blood, sweat, and tears. The crowd's going mental. And then... you're handed four trays of eggs. Or a live chicken. Or engine oil.

Welcome to the wonderfully bizarre world of Man of the Match awards, where football decided that boring old trophies just weren't cutting it anymore.

These bonkers prizes are absolutely brilliant. They're authentic, memorable, and honestly, they've given us more laughs than most stand-up specials.

10. The Jaffa Cakes and Crisps – Crewe Alexandra

Seventeen-year-old Zac Williams won Man of the Match for Crewe Alexandra in 2021. Too young for champagne, so what did he get? A pack of crisps and some Jaffa Cakes. Two-thirds of a meal deal, essentially. The look on his face said it all, somewhere between "cheers, I guess?" and "is this actually happening?"

What makes this brilliant is the sheer Britishness of it all. No flash cars, no designer watches, just some McVitie's finest and a bag of Walker's. Proper grassroots football, that. Though let's be honest, he probably scoffed them on the bus ride home.

9. The Live Hen – Poland's Feathered Fiasco

An actual living, breathing, clucking chicken was handed to a footballer in Poland's I Liga. Not a toy. An actual hen. Imagine running yourself into the ground, covered in mud, and someone rocks up with a bird under their arm like, "Here you go, mate."

10) A football player from Zimbabwe got given 24 beers as his Man of the Match award pic.twitter.com/zrJw0W7AzW

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 1, 2022

The logistics alone are mental. Did they have the chicken backstage? Was there a designated chicken handler? Did the player take it home on the bus? Did it have its own seat? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

8. The Sliders – Ghana's Practical Prize

Finally, someone in Ghana thought, "Let's give them something useful." A pair of sliders. Every footballer needs decent slides for the training ground or post-match showers. And honestly? I'd be buzzing with this prize.

Sliders aren't cheap these days—you're looking at twenty to forty quid for a proper pair. The practicality elevates this from "slightly odd" to "actually quite clever". You can't eat it, it won't go off, and you don't need to find somewhere to store it.

7. The Burger King Crown – River Plate

Franco Armani put in an absolute stormer for River Plate in 2018, making save after save. His reward? Being made to wear a Burger King crown in front of the media. Not even a Whopper meal. Just the crown. The paper crown that usually goes to kids at birthday parties.

River Plate goalkeeper Franco Armani won the Man of the Match this week... so had to wear the Burger King crown because it sponsored the award. 😂🍔👑 pic.twitter.com/OwpYgNgPwD

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) March 16, 2018

This was peak corporate sponsorship gone mad. Burger King sponsored the award, so someone thought, "Let's make him wear our paper crown!" You can see in Armani's eyes he's thinking, "I'm a professional athlete. Why am I dressed like I work at a fast-food restaurant?"

6. The Engine Oil – Sudan Premier League's Automotive Approach

This one proper makes me laugh every time I think about it. The Sudan Premier League clearly had a sponsor lined up, some motor oil company, presumably, and they decided the best way to honour their best player each week was to hand them a massive jug of engine oil.

Not metaphorical oil for keeping the team's engine running. Actual, literal, stick-it-in-your-car engine oil. The kind you'd buy at Halfords for £15. Can you imagine the conversation in the dressing room afterward? "Great performance today, lad. Oh, and here's some oil for your Honda Civic."

5. The Silver Hake Fish – Real Sociedad's Basque Speciality

Martin Ødegaard. One of the brightest young talents in world football at the time, on loan from Real Madrid, lighting up La Liga with Real Sociedad. And for winning Player of the Month, they presented him with... a massive silver hake fish. Not cooked. Not prepared. Just a big, dead fish. Like something you'd see at the market on a Saturday morning.

Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard wins a silver hake fish during his Real Sociedad days pic.twitter.com/XS9xADFqqi

— Dreadful man of the match awards 🏆 (@WorstPrizesEver) August 26, 2022

To be fair to Real Sociedad, this is apparently a Basque tradition, and silver hake is a regional delicacy. So there's actually cultural significance here, which is more than you can say for most of these daft awards.

4. The Crate of Beers – Zimbabwe's Sunday League Energy

Twenty-four beers. That's what one lucky Zimbabwean footballer got for his Man of the Match performance. Not a trophy. Not a medal. Not even a certificate.

Just a proper crate of lager, the kind you'd bring to a mate's house party or crack open after a Sunday kick-about. And honestly? I'm here for it. This is grassroots football at its absolute finest—pure, unfiltered, no-nonsense practicality.

3. The Curry – Carlisle United's Takeaway Tribute

Joe Riley's face in that photo tells you everything you need to know. Fresh out of Manchester United's academy, now playing for Carlisle United, just lost 2-1, and he's been handed a korma from the local Indian restaurant.

Not even a vindaloo or a madras—a korma. The mildest curry on the menu. The curry your gran orders because she "doesn't like it too spicy." The curry that makes you question if it's actually curry at all or just chicken in beige sauce.

2. The 5GB Mobile Data – Mamelodi Sundowns' Digital Prize

Hlompho Kekana must have been absolutely buzzing. There he is, putting in a Man of the Match performance for Mamelodi Sundowns in the Telkom Knockout tournament, and his prize is... 5GB of mobile data.

1) A South African footballer got 5GB of data as his Man of the Match award pic.twitter.com/6cqY9gKb3L

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 1, 2022

Presented via a hilariously oversized SIM card that looks like it was made for a giant's phone. In the era of memes and social media, this might just be the most internet-famous Man of the Match award ever.

1. The 50-Pound Slaughtered Pig – Norway's Heavyweight Champion

And here we are. The big one. The absolute king of ridiculous Man of the Match awards. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: a 50-pound freshly slaughtered pig, awarded to Norwegian midfielder Sondre Dvergsdal by Varhaug FC in 2025.

Not a toy pig. Not a pig-shaped trophy. Not even a live pig, which, as we've established, would also be mental. No, this was a dead pig. Fifty pounds of pork. Fresh from the butcher. Probably still warm.

What absolutely kills me is how Norwegian this is. It's practical, it's no-nonsense, and it's probably quite valuable if you know what to do with it. That's enough meat to feed a family for weeks. You could make sausages, bacon, roasts, stews—proper winter food.

The Beautiful Absurdity of It All

The beauty of these awards is that they're genuine. They're not focus-grouped or committee-approved. They're just brilliant, bonkers ideas from people who love football and want to celebrate it in their own way.

Sure, the Premier League's little trophy might be boring, but it's not accidentally giving someone a live animal or a curry they didn't order.