Whistleblowers Maggie Nichols and Abdullah Ibhais receive the Play the Game Award 2025

The Play the Game Award pays tribute to an individual or a group of persons who in their professional careers or as volunteers in sport have made an outstanding effort to strengthen the basic ethical values of sport.

The award dates back to 2002 where the first recipient was journalist Laura Robinson who exposed sexual abuse in junior hockey in Canada. Since then, the award has been used to honour people who embody the spirit of courage in sport and stand up for fairness and accountability whether they are journalists, whistleblowers, reformers, athletes, or advocates.

This year, the award goes to two people who have chosen to speak out at great costs to their personal lives: Maggie Nichols and Abdullah Ibhais.

"Their integrity has inspired others, and their courage has reminded us that truth remains sport’s most powerful force for change," said Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game, when he introduced the award.

Maggie Nichols

Maggie Nichols is a World Champion gymnast and 8-time NCAA Champion. She was also the first gymnast to report sexual abuse by a USA Gymnastics doctor – revelations which led to the uncovering of a major abuse scandal in American gymnastics. She is now an athlete advocate and founder of the Maggie Nichols Foundation.

"She began life in a sport full of promise. But within that world existed a culture that rewarded obedience and discouraged questions; a culture where winning mattered more than well-being, and silence was the price of belonging. In such an environment, speaking up offered no guarantee of being heard, no promise of protection, and no assurance of justice," said Elsborg.

When Maggie Nichols decided to speak, it changed everything.

"It exposed deep-rooted wrongdoing and revealed how institutions built on trust can fail those who depend on them the most," said Elsborg.

Maggie Nichols' whistleblowing led to reforms in athlete protection, to new systems of accountability, and to a global reckoning with the abuse of power in sport. It inspired hundreds of others to step forward and transformed isolation into solidarity and shame into strength.

"In the years since, she has continued to work for change. Through education, advocacy, and leadership, she has shown that healing and justice are not endpoints, but ongoing commitments. And for this extraordinary courage, we present her with the Play the Game Award," said Elsborg.

Abdullah Ibhais

Abdullah Ibhais lives in Jordan and is a former media manager for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

He was arrested in 2019, after he criticised the way the Qatari authorities had handled a workers' protest, highlighting mistreatment of migrant labourers. He later spent three years in prison after being convicted on a number of charges, including causing harm to the Supreme Committee.

"He has gone through experiences that nobody else in this room has gone through and hopefully never will," said Jens Sejer Andersen, founder and senior advisor at Play the Game in his motivation for the award.

"When faced with evidence of exploitation and wrongdoing, Abdullah Ibhais chose not to protect the system but to protect the truth. He did so not only for his own sake, but for hundreds of thousands of people in a dire situation. The price was severe, and his act of integrity that should have been celebrated by world sport became a pretext for punishment," said Andersen.

Today, Abdullah Ibhais lives in freedom but continues to speak out.

"For this extraordinary courage, for defending truth at great personal cost, and for reminding the world that loyalty to sport must never come before loyalty to humanity, we present this Play the Game Award 2025 to Abdullah Ibhais," said Andersen.

Read more about the Play Award and a list of previous winners