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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 awards. A similar award in some sports, such as soccer, is man of the match. The term Most Valuable Player is most often used in the United States.
Because of the proliferation of women's team sports, eg. football (soccer), the term Man of the Match is now seen as inappropriate, and is gradually being replaced by MVP.
As the term MVP is awarded by coaches and team mates, the V should represent 'valued' not 'valuable'. To say a player is most valuable would be to imply his or her resale value is the highest. In fact the award is given to the player most appreciated by his or her colleagues, ie. the most valued.
Specific North American examples include (first regular season, then playoffs):

★ Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award and World Series MVP Award

★ National Football League Most Valuable Player Award and Super Bowl MVP Award

★ National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award and National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player Award

★ Women's National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award and Women's National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player Award

★ National Hockey League Hart Memorial Trophy (regular season) and Conn Smythe Trophy (playoffs)
One award is commonly referred to as an "MVP" award, despite the fact that its official name does not match the "MVP" initialism:

★ NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player Award
In the Australian Football League, the AFL Players Association awards a "Most Valuable Player" award now known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy, voted by peers and considered by many observers of the game to be more indicative of the Best and Fairest player than the Brownlow Medal. In the Canadian Football League they also have the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award (regular season) and the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player (playoffs). The Philippine Basketball Association also awards its own Most Valuable Award.

Contents

Records

Non-sports uses

Records

The records for the number of regular season MVP awards won in each major North American sport are:

★ MLB - 7, Barry Bonds, Pittsburgh Pirates/San Francisco Giants

★ NFL - 3, Jim Brown, Cleveland Browns and Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers

★ NBA - 6, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee Bucks/Los Angeles Lakers

★ NHL - 9, Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers/Los Angeles Kings

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 customers.