Sports stats



MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Midfielder Chris Klein Wins Kraft Global Fair Play Award

October 19, 2006 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SALT LAKE CITY (Thursday, October 19th, 2006) Real Salt Lake is pleased to announce that MF Chris Klein has been selected as the winner of the 2006 Kraft Fair Play Award, an honor that is bestowed upon the MLS player who most exemplifies fair play and sportsmanship on the field during the MLS regular season.

Klein epitomized sportsmanship throughout his first season with Real Salt Lake. The respected veteran midfielder started all 32 games playing 2,842 minutes and committed only 18 fouls and did not receive a single booking. Considered to be one of the hardest working and classiest players in the league, Klein has not received a caution in the past two years, a span of 63 games. Klein beat out Chicago Fire midfielder Justin Mapp and New England midfielder Steve Ralston for the award.

"I would like to thank everyone who is involved in the selection process for considering me for this award", said Klein. "An award like this truly reflects how I feel about the game of soccer in this country. When I am on the field I believe in respecting the game, respecting my teammates and respecting the officials. It is an honor to be recognized, especially by my peers, for something of this nature. Thanks again to the league and everyone who voted."

The Kraft Global Fair Play award is determined by equal voting from the media, MLS players and MLS coaches and general managers.

COMPLETE LIST OF MLS AWARDS: The following is a list of the awards handed out by Major League Soccer and the schedule of the award announcements:

2006 MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER AWARDS:

Kraft Global Fair Play Winner:

Chris Klein, Real Salt Lake

Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year Winner:

Troy Perkins, DC United

Gatorade Rookie of the Year Finalists:

Mehdi Ballouchy - Real Salt Lake

Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA

Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA

MLS Comeback Player of the Year Finalists

Chris Armas - Chicago Fire

Alecko Eskandarian - D.C. United

Richard Mulrooney - FC Dallas

MLS Coach of the Year Finalists

Bob Bradley - Chivas USA

Peter Nowak - D.C. United

Dave Sarachan - Chicago Fire

MLS Defender of the Year Finalists

Bobby Boswell - D.C. United

Jose Burciaga Jr. - Kansas City Wizards

Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City Wizards

Honda MLS Most Valuable Player Finalists

Jeff Cunningham - Real Salt Lake

Dwayne De Rosario - Houston Dynamo

Christian Gomez - D.C. United

OSI Referee of the Year Finalists

Brian Hall

Michael Kennedy

Ricardo Salazar

Schedule of Awards Announcements:

Tuesday, October 24

MLS Defender of the Year

MLS Comeback Player of the Year

OSI Referee of the Year

U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year

U.S. Soccer Foundation Team Humanitarian of the Year

Tuesday, October 31

Gatorade Rookie of the Year

MLS Coach of the Year

Monday, November 6

Announcement of MLS Team Executive Awards

Thursday, November 9

Honda MLS Most Valuable Player

Friday, November 10

Sierra Mist Goal of the Year

Saturday, November 11

RadioShack Best XI

Check out the Real Salt Lake Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Major League Soccer message board...

Major League Soccer Stories from October 19, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central