Most valuable player

"MVP" redirects here. For the documentary film, see Most Valuable Players (film). For other uses, see MVP (disambiguation).
Luis Suárez with the 2011 Copa América most valuable player award.

In sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best-performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests. Initially used in professional sports, the term is now also commonly used in amateur sports, as well as in other completely unrelated fields of endeavor such as business and music.

The term is typically only used in Canada, the United States, the Philippines and South Korea, although Australia uses the term for the National Basketball League. For example, "NBL Most Valuable Player" and "NBL Grand Final Most Valuable Player". In many sports, some MVP awards are presented just for a specific game or match (in other words, a man of the match award), while others are awarded based on an entire season or year. The gender-neutral term player of the match is usually substituted for "man of the match" in women's team competitions.[1]

In the Australian Football League, the term "best and fairest" is more commonly used than "most valuable player" for the equivalent award on a season basis, and "best on ground" (BOG) is more commonly used for a single-match award. The "VFL/AFL Players Association Most Valuable Player", is the only award in the league to have used the "MVP" initialism.

Recently online reviews and polls are also taken. The McGrane Tournament calls their MVP the Joe Harenza Award. In the Canadian Football League they also have the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award and Most Outstanding Canadian Player Award (regular season) and the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player (playoffs). The Philippine Basketball Association also awards its own Most Valuable Award.

Sports

Specific North American examples include (first regular season, then playoffs):

One award commonly referred to as an "MVP" award, despite the fact that its official name does not match the "MVP" initialism:

In cricket:

E-Sports

The term is also used in video games. For example, the games Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 contain challenges to kill the "MVP" of the opposing team a certain amount of times (they call it "Counter-MVP") and Halo 3 to mean the person with the highest score or amount of kills. In Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift an MVP title is awarded to a character at the end of each battle based on how well they performed the role of their job. The MVP system is also used in MAG and Team Fortress 2. In Battlefield 3 there is an MVP award for the player who scored the most points during a round. There is also an MVP 2 and MVP 3 for the second and third most-scoring players during a round. In Counter Strike an MVP is awarded at the end of every round to the player who has done a notable act. These include eliminating the most amount of enemies, defusing/successfully ensure the detonation of a bomb, etc.

Non-sports uses

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences makes "Most Valuable Player" awards annually in a number of instrumental categories.

MVP is often used in business to designate a valued employee. In this context, sometimes the "P" in "MVP" is something other than "player". So, for example, Microsoft uses MVP to mean Most Valuable Professional. The term is applied to recognized, credible, and accessible individuals with expertise in one or more Microsoft products who actively participate in online and offline communities to share their knowledge and expertise with other Microsoft users.

In 2013, Brandon Mauck was named MVP in GAAP accounting.

See also

References

  1. ↑ See for example 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Final
  2. ↑ World Cricket
  3. ↑ Most valuable player in IPL