FLORENCE, June 23, 2026 – The list of winners of the 30th Fair Play Menarini International Award, scheduled for July 2 in Florence, continues to include great legends of world sport. Among the champions who will receive the award dedicated to the highest values in sport at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino are two true icons of international football: Diego Milito and Emilio Butragueño.

Diego Milito, photo by Giuseppe Bellini via Getty Images

Throughout an extraordinary career spanning Argentina, Spain and Italy, “El Príncipe” Diego Milito won the hearts of football fans with his talent, sportsmanship and a journey marked by remarkable success. Milito is best remembered for his pivotal role in Inter's epic “Treble” in 2010, culminating in a memorable two-goal performance in the UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich.

Emilio Butragueño, photo by Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images

Also Emilio Butragueño, an icon in the history of Spanish football, will be honored. Nicknamed "El Buitre", Butragueño was the symbol of Real Madrid in the 1980s and a key figure in one of the most successful eras in the history of the Madrid club.

With the addition of Milito and Butragueño, the list of awardees of the 30th Fair Play Menarini International Award is enriched with exceptional champions who have achieved triumphs on the field and are ambassadors of the true values of sport, perfectly embodying the spirit of the Award that for thirty years has celebrated fair play as a universal heritage.

"We welcome two international football stars who have left a deep mark on the sport not only through their successes, but also through the way in which they achieved them” said Luca Lastrucci, Valeria Speroni Cardi, and Filippo Paganelli, members of the Board of the Fair Play Menarini Foundation. "Milito and Butragueño share the same values that unite all the protagonists of the 30th Fair Play Menarini Award, confirming themselves as extraordinary examples of sport and fairness".

Here are the winners of the 2026 edition: 

- Achille Polonara, basketball

- Antonella Palmisano, race walking

- Armand Duplantis, pole vaulting

- Bebe Vio, paralympic athletics

- Chiara Mazzel, paralympic ski

- Daniele Garozzo, fencing

- Davide Ghiotto – Michele Malfatti – Andrea Giovannini, ice skating

- Diego Milito, football

- Emilio Butragueño, football

- Fabio Caressa, journalism

- Gianfranco Zola, football

- Gregorio Paltrinieri, swimming

- Simone Anzani, volleyball