The Best International Athlete ESPY Award is an award given to the sportsperson adjudged to have been the best or most outstanding of those born outside, or not possessing

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

, of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

who contest a major international sport in a given

calendar year A calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. The Gregorian calendar year, which is in use as civil calendar in ...

. From 2008 to 2009, the award was split into Best Female International Athlete ESPY Award and Best Male International Athlete ESPY Award. The women's version of the award for 2008 and 2009 were presented to Mexican professional golfer

Lorena Ochoa Lorena Ochoa Reyes (; born 15 November 1981) is a Mexican former professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour from 2003 LPGA Tour, 2003 to 2010 LPGA Tour, 2010. She was the Women's World Golf Rankings#World number ones, top-ranked ...

. The award was discontinued after 2009, but was reinstated in 2012. In 2018, the award was restricted to soccer and renamed Best International Men's Soccer Player, and a women's version of the award, also specific to soccer, was introduced at that time. Eligibility was still based on citizenship, regardless of the player's club affiliation. The 2018 and 2019 awards for the women's version were given to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n soccer player Sam Kerr. The award's name was changed again in 2021 to Best International Athlete, Men's Soccer, with the women's award undergoing an identical name change. The eligibility criteria also changed; both awards are now presented to soccer players who play at club level outside the United States, without regard to citizenship. The 2021 women's version of this award, and the first under the current eligibility criteria, was presented to Sam Mewis, an American who played her club soccer at

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Balloting for the award was conducted over the Internet by fans from amongst choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee. The ESPY Awards ceremony has been conducted in June or July since the 2002 ceremony; all awards conferred in that period reflect performance and achievement over the twelve months previous to presentation, which may span one or two seasons depending upon the recipient's particular sport. The award wasn't awarded in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

List of winners

References

{{ESPY International Athlete ESPY Awards Awards established in 2006 Awards disestablished in 2009 Awards established in 2012

List of winners

See also

References