Brazil, Spain jointly win FIFA Fair Play Award

Berlin, July 10 (UNI) In a tournament which saw a record breaking 28 red cards being shown and players feigning injuries and diving like never before, Brazil and Spain have been declared the joint winners of the fifth FIFA Fair Play Award after picking up 886 points out of 1,000 in the World Cup.

The Award -- first instituted in 1986 -- is given to the team with the best record of sportsmanship and good conduct both on and off the pitch by the Committee for Ethics and Fair Play, a FIFA statement said.

The honour was a record third for Brazil, who were knocked out in the quarterfinal by France and first for Spain, who went home following a second round 1-3 loss to Zidane and co.

While Brazil may not have shown the renowned jogo bonito on the German soil they did manage to win hearts by playing fair in an event which has been marred by poor sportsmanship by players, who have gone down at the slightest touch and, adccording to tournament director Franz Beckenbaeur, made the refrees' job all the more difficult.

Leading by example for Brazil is defender Lucio, who did not concede a single free-kick in four matches. The Bayern Munich centre-back committed his first foul in the quarter-final defeat against France.

The Spanish, called La Furia Roja (The Red Fury) by fans, received just six yellow cards in their four matches in the showcase event with three of them coming in the last group encounter against Saudi Arabia.

Raul Gonzalez's team started impressively with convincing victories over Ukraine and Tunisia but faltered against France in the second round when they were outpaced by Frank Ribery and Patrick Viera.

The squads will receive medals for each member of its playing and coaching staff, a certificate, and a voucher for 50,000 dollars worth of sporting material to be used in youth development.

The other criteria -- apart from the number of cards -- for the award included attractive playing style, respect for opponents, respect for the officials, behaviour of the coaching staff and the behaviour of supporters.

Previous winners of the award are Belgium (2002), England and France (1998), Brazil (1994), England (1990), Brazil (1986).

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