Football eggs

Eggs’cellent Prize Joins Ranks of Football’s Strangest Man of the Match Awards

General / April 8, 2025

A shiny trophy. A bottle of nice Champagne. Even a cash prize would do. But four boxes of eggs? They do things a little bit differently when it comes to awarding the Man of the Match trophy in Norway. Bryne FK, the small Norwegian club where one Erling Haaland learned his trade as a youngster and now has a ‘safari’ expedition dedicated to him, have done away with tradition and replaced the traditional Man of the Match prizes with something altogether more unique.

They have decided to support the local farming community by handing out prizes sourced nearby… hence why Jan de Boer, the Bryne goalkeeper, was handed four boxes of eggs for his stellar display in defeat to Bodo/Glimt in March. In their next home game, played against Kristiansund in April, the best player on the pitch will be rewarded with numerous cartons of milk. Some will agree that Bryne’s have eggs-celled with their one-of-a-kind approach that boosts the local community. Mind you, they’re not the only football club to hand out unusual Man of the Match prizes…

The Burger King Crown

Imagine being rewarded for a Man of the Match display with a crown… now let’s a level up on champagne and trophies. Well, it would be, if the crown in question was made from solid gold and jewel encrusted – rather than sourced from a nearby fast food chain.

But that was the case for Argentine outfit River Plate, whose goalkeeper Franco Armani was rather nonplussed to be presented with a Burger King crown courtesy of his fine display in the 2018 Super Cup final. In fairness, it was a specially-made metallic version of the burger joint’s traditional paper headwear, but even so you might agree that Armani still looked a bit of a Whopper during his post-match interview…

Mobile Phone Data

A Man of the Match trophy is a nice keepsake of a stellar performance; especially when earned during a big game like a key league fixture, cup final or win over a local rival. And Champagne? Well, that’s a nice drop for a bit of post-match rehydration.

But in an age in which a club or competition’s sponsors are becoming increasingly involved in determining the nature of the Man of the Match prize, the lucky recipient can instead expect their reward to be something rather more practical. So when the South African side Mamelodi Sundowns prospered in the Telkom Knockout tournament in 2019, their star man Hlompho Kekana got his hands on a prize that money CAN buy.

Telkom is one of the largest telecommunications operators in South Africa, so they decided that the winner of their Man of the Match prize would be handed 5GB of mobile phone data. Kekana was handed a giant sim card as a trophy, of course…

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

Eggs and milk from a local farm. Mobile phone data from a telecommunications company… they at least make some kind of sense. So can anybody explain the logic of why/how former Brentford forward Said Benrahma was handed a copy of the PS4 game Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time for his Man of the Match display in a Carabao Cup game?

The Algerian bagged a brace in the Bees’ 3-0 win over Fulham back in October 2020, and alongside a more traditional Man of the Match trophy he was also picture holding a copy of the popular platform game. If anybody has an explanation as to why, we’d love to hear it…

The Coca-Cola Mountain Bike

The EFL Cup has been sponsored by many different brands over the years, from Carling and Capital One to Carabao, Littlewoods and, erm, the Milk Marketing Board. When Coca-Cola took over as competition sponsor in 1992, the players had every right to expect a crate of the good stuff if named Man of the Match during a cup game.

But, for reasons only they can explain, the marketing team at the famous brand instead decided to have their own range of red mountain bikes custom made – complete with the Coca-Cola logo on the frame and wheels. Cue the rather awkward moment post-game when the Man of the Match recipient had to wheel their new ride down the tunnel and into the dressing room.

Barbecue and Apron

Burger King really have gone to town with their sponsorship of Argentina’s Supercopa game, which is the country’s equivalent of the English Community Shield (i.e. league champion vs domestic cup winner). A year prior to their ‘crowning moment’ in 2018, the fast food firm decided to reward the winner of the Supercopa Man of the Match prize with their own barbecue grill and branded apron.

So step forward Lautaro Acosta, who scored in Lanus’ 3-0 demolition of River Plate. It’s hard to know if he was more delighted by his goal or his MOTM bounty…

Live Chicken, Dead Chicken

Quite what Polish side Gornik Zabrze were expecting their Man of the Match winners to do with a live chicken remains a mystery. But that was exactly the prize they awarded to the best player on the pitch during the 2018/19 season, complete with cage and rosette.

While Gornik Zabrze were handing out live chickens, Carlisle United were instead rewarding their players with a poultry prize of a different nature. After signing a sponsorship deal with a local Indian restaurant, the traditional Man of the Match trophy was exchanged for the player’s favourite curry instead.