2024 Merit Awards: Kang, Onana and Sallstrom recognised for inspirational off-pitch endeavours

• Each year, FIFPRO pays tribute to players giving back to their communities with the Merit Awards
  
  
• Winners of Player Activism, Player Impact and Player Voice awards revealed at FIFPRO General Assembly in Indonesia
  
  
• Ga-Ae Kang, Andre Onana and Linda Sallstrom win player awards for off-pitch endeavours

Ga-Ae Kang (Sejong Sports Toto WFC/Korea Republic), Andre Onana (Manchester United/Cameroon), and Linda Sallstrom (Vittsjo GIK/Finland) are the winners of the 2024 FIFPRO Merit Awards.

• Player Activism Award: Linda Sallstrom – for bringing about political or social change
• Player Impact Award: Andre Onana – for creating impact in the lives of others
• Player Voice Award: Ga-Ae Kang – for highlighting an issue and influencing change

Each year, FIFPRO pays tribute to players giving back to their communities with the Merit Awards, which are divided into the three categories of Activism, Impact and Voice. 

This year's winners were picked by FIFPRO’s selection committee consisting of International Trade Union Confederation Director Todd Brogan, FIFPRO’s ED&I Manager Erica Puppo, and representatives of each FIFPRO division: Desmond Maringwa (Zimbabwe, Africa), Kathryn Gill (Australia, Asia/Oceania), Steven Bryce (Costa Rica, Central and North America), Mila Hristova (Bulgaria, Europe) and Gamadiel Garcia (Chile, South America).

Player Activism: Linda Sallstrom

Linda Sallstrom is Finland’s all-time top scorer and is also on track to become her country’s most-capped player. Sallstrom has been vocal about human rights issues, such as equality, racism and democracy, and in March confronted fans in Gothenburg, Sweden who harassed her team-mates with misogynistic slurs.

Sallstrom said: "I am very humbled and grateful for this award. It feels a little bit weird because I have only done the least I can do: use my voice. There are people doing a lot more every day than I do, and they don't get the recognition that they should. I want to stand in solidarity with them and all others who are trying to make a little change for the better."

Player Impact: Andre Onana

Manchester United and Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana launched the Andre Onana Foundation to provide free medical care and high-quality surgeries to underprivileged communities in Cameroon and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The foundation collaborates with a group of surgeons and medical professionals who each year provide life-changing surgery and care to hundreds of people, particularly children. Doctors working with Onana’s foundation have performed over 1,200 surgical operations over the last three years.

Onana said: "Winning the Player Impact Award means the foundation will receive a USD 10,000 donation from FIFPRO. I want to thank FIFPRO and the Cameroonian player union Synafoc; this big donation is very welcome, and our team already have plans in place to do some nice things for the kids, hopefully in cooperation with UNICEF.

"As for the future of the Andre Onana Foundation, we have a lot of things ahead. We’re in conversation with the United Nations to do a collaboration and our main priority going forward is to impact as many people as we can in the world."

Player Voice Award: Ga-Ae Kang

Goalkeeper Ga-Ae Kang is the main driver behind the efforts of Korean footballers and their union KPFA to elevate the wellbeing and rights of women’s players. In a country where it is not common to speak out, Kang has used her platform to highlight necessary changes to advance the women’s game in Korea. The former national team player is doing her utmost to rally footballers behind improving working conditions, abolishing the salary cap, and making the Women’s K League more visible.

Kang said: "I’m very surprised to win this award. Winning the Player Voice Award will make me work even harder to improve the working conditions for Korean women’s footballers and for young players in our country."

Cameroon wins Union Impact Award

As well as applauding the work of players making a difference via the Merit Awards, the Union Impact Award was bestowed to the player association that has launched the most inspiring initiative to improve the wellbeing of professional footballers in their country. The player unions of Cameroon, Greece and Portugal were the three finalists for the 2024 Union Impact Award and member unions on site in Indonesia voted to decide the winner.

Cameroonian player union Synafoc was selected as the winner for their initiative on raising awareness about non-payment in their country. Many players find themselves in a precarious situation due to non-payment of salaries, bonuses and the lack of action from the football federation which often fails in enforcing decisions by judicial bodies.

The union's project, called the ‘Barometer’, sees Synafoc each month send a survey to players at all teams in the top two men’s divisions and the top women’s division, who report what the status of their payment is. The union then publishes the results of this player survey during a monthly press conference.

Synafoc President Geremie Njitap said: "Club presidents who snubbed us in the past now call us to justify themselves to avoid being indexed in the Barometer. Players now know which clubs are serious and which are not, so for them the Barometer is an authentic decision-making tool. And the football association is now showing a little more interest in applying its own regulations to force clubs to respect their commitments."