Major League Soccer today announced that Columbus Crew SC Captain and defender Michael Parkhurst has won the 2014 Xbox Individual Fair Play Award. Parkhurst is the second player in MLS history to win the Xbox Fair Play Award three times.
The award is selected by MLS based on objective criteria such as fewest fouls committed, cards received and on subjective evaluation of sportsmanlike behavior. The other two finalists were Chicago Fire midfielder Harry Shipp and Portland Timbers midfielder Darlington Nagbe.
In five MLS seasons, the Rhode Island native has never recorded more than 12 fouls and two yellow cards in a single season.
After securing back-to-back Xbox Fair Play Awards in 2007 and 2008 with New England, in his return to Major League Soccer in 2014, Parkhurst captained the Crew and made 33 appearances on the backline. In more than 13,000 regular-season minutes in his career, Parkhurst has never been issued a red card. He was named to and represented the club with a start at the 2014 AT&T MLS All-Star Game in Portland, the club’s first All-Star since 2010.
Other Major League Soccer year-end awards are slated to be announced in the coming weeks. Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter is up for Coach of the Year following his first year at the helm and newcomer Steve Clark is a finalist for Allstate Goalkeeper of the Year.
