Free Printable Sportsmanship Award Certificate Template

Every club has one. The player who helps the opponent up, who does not argue with the referee, who is first to the huddle after a defeat. They rarely win anything else, and a season without this award is a season that quietly told them it did not count.

When to use it

Presentation night, alongside the performance awards. Sports day at a school. A tournament, where some leagues make it a formal category and ask each team to nominate one player. Youth football, basketball, hockey, swimming, athletics — it fits anywhere there is an opponent and a result.

Name the moment. “Shook every hand after the semi-final”, “stayed to help pack the kit after every away match”. Sportsmanship is made of specific small things, and listing one is what stops the certificate reading as a consolation.

Sportsmanship, MVP or participation?

This is the award that fixes the problem the other two create. The MVP certificate rewards performance and the most improved certificate rewards progress — both of which some players will never win. Sportsmanship rewards the thing every player can choose to do, which is why plenty of coaches now give it out first. Everyone else gets the participation certificate.

How it works

Click any line on the certificate above and type over it. Pick the design, the paper size, and the ink saver version if you are printing several. Then press Download PDF and print. Everything happens in your browser — the names you type are never uploaded anywhere.

Printing it well

Print at 100% scale, not “fit to page”, or the border will shift. Landscape orientation, and the paper size you downloaded — A4 outside the United States, US Letter inside it. Card of 200 gsm or heavier makes the difference between an award and a printout.

Editable in PowerPoint and Word

If you need the club badge, a league logo or signatures from both the coach and the referee, download the editable file instead. The PowerPoint version opens in PowerPoint, Keynote, LibreOffice and Google Slides; the Word version opens in Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice. Every line is a real text box.

Questions

Who should choose the winner?
Some clubs let the coach decide, some ask the squad to vote, and some ask the opposing teams — that last one produces the most interesting answers, and a nomination from an opponent is worth writing on the certificate.

Can a team win it rather than a player?
Yes, and many leagues award it that way. Type the team name on the name line and print one for the club and one for each player if you want them all to have it.

What is the difference from a fair play award?
In most leagues, none — fair play is the more common name in Europe, sportsmanship in North America. Type over the title line with whichever your club uses.

Is it really free?
Yes, for personal, educational and commercial use, with no watermark and no account. The only thing you cannot do is resell the file itself as a template.

Which paper size should I pick?
US Letter in the United States and Canada, A4 almost everywhere else. If you are unsure, check what is loaded in the printer.