Sir Kenny Dalglish and Karen Carney win PFA merit awards

Sir Kenny Dalglish and Karen Carney have received the Professional Footballers' Association merit awards for 2026 in recognition of their contribution to football.

Dalglish won six league titles and three European Cups in a stellar playing career with Liverpool, having joined the Reds from Celtic in 1977 where he had won four Scottish league crowns.

He went on to manage Liverpool, securing a league and FA Cup double as player-manager in 1986 before adding two more First Division titles in 1988 and 1990 after retiring.

In 1995 he led Blackburn to the Premier League title, having helped them to secure promotion to the top flight in 1992.

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The 75-year-old, who confirmed in June he was undergoing treatment for cancer, is also Scotland's most capped player having represented his country on 102 occasions.

Carney played 144 times for England, including being part of the Lionesses squad which finished third at the 2015 World Cup.

Having come through the ranks at Birmingham, Carney won the quadruple with Arsenal in 2007 as well as a league and FA Cup double with Chelsea in 2018.

Carney was appointed by the Government to undertake a review of the women's game which was published in 2023, and was awarded an OBE the following year for services to football.

She has forged a successful career in the media as a football pundit and also enjoyed success away from the sport as the winner of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2025.