ZURICH Iran, the United States and Northern Ireland were jointly awarded FIFA's 1998 Fair Play Prize on Wednesday. World soccer's governing body gave the award to Iran and the United States for their show of sportsmanship in a highly charged World Cup match in Lyon on June 21. The Northern Ireland Football Association was awarded a share of the prize for their continuing efforts to reunite the Catholic and Protestant communities, said FIFA in a statement.

FIFA praised the fact that on November 30 a match between Cliftonville and Linfield, clubs identified as being on either side of the sectarian divide, took place at Cliftonville's Solitude Stadium for the first time in almost 30 years. FIFA President Sepp Blatter said the award to the three was proof of football's role as a mediating force. In the middle of the World Cup the Iranians and the Americans provided a powerful demonstration of the effects of fair play when they not only joined in the spirit of FIFA's Fair Play Day on June 21 by posing together for the photographers before their match in Lyon, but also exchanged flowers and gifts among the players, Blatter said.

The award, like that to Northern Ireland, is also intended to be symbolic for many other countries which have found themselves in a comparable situation. The awards will be presented at the World Player of the Year Gala in Barcelona on February 1. (Rueter)