The Premier League medals you might not know about

Cole Palmer, Alejandro Garnacho and Enzo Fernandez were interrupted just before they were about to participate in a training session earlier this week.

As they stepped onto the turf at Chelsea’s training ground, the trio — along with team-mates Joao Pedro and Trevor Chalobah — were greeted with personalised awards from the Premier League to mark them all hitting 100 appearances in the competition.

It got us thinking. We all know about the player and manager of the month awards, but what else does the Premier League commemorate? How many players have a shiny medal on their mantlepiece? (And can you guess how many players have received an award since the start of the 2017-18 season for making 400 Premier League appearances?)

The Athletic answers the burning questions…

What awards does the Premier League hand out?

The Premier League’s best-known awards are handed out monthly and at the end of every campaign.

These include player of the month, manager of the month, goal of the month, and save of the month, with the end-of-season awards also recognising the best player, young player, manager and goal of that campaign, plus the golden boot winner (for the player who has scored the most goals), save of the season, golden glove (for the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets), and playmaker (the highest number of assists).

Retired players with excellent records can also be inducted into the Premier League’s Hall of Fame.

More unknown, however, is the Premier League’s Milestones initiative. These awards are presented to players when they hit a certain number of appearances, goals or clean sheets — and are what the five Chelsea players received earlier this week.

How can a player win a Premier League Milestone?

Premier League Milestones are awarded to players to reach 100 top-flight appearances, as well as 200, 300, and every century mark thereafter. All appearance awards are silver-plated, but from 400 appearances onwards, they are solid silver.

They can also be awarded to a player when they score 50 goals in the Premier League, with each subsequent multiple of 50 also being recognised by the league.

Goalkeepers aren’t excluded, although they have to work slightly harder and register 100 clean sheets before being presented with their medal.

Head coaches and managers who have overseen 100 games in charge are not included either.

I’ve never heard of this before… How long has this been happening?

The Premier League introduced this initiative ahead of the 2017-18 season.

Each player who is awarded a milestone receives a medallion and a personalised plaque that commemorates their achievement.

Although there are plenty of players who would have been eligible for the milestones before the 2017-18 season, the awards are not handed out retrospectively. This means the goalkeeper or outfield player would have had to hit their milestone from August 2017 onwards.

So, with apologies to Ryan Giggs (632 appearances), Frank Lampard (609 — although he didn’t retire long before the awards were introduced) and David James (572), there is no extra bling for you.

How many players have received these?

As it stands, 340 Premier League players have hit the 100 top-flight appearances mark after the start of the 2017-18 campaign.

This number shrinks to 148 when it comes to a milestone for 200 appearances being handed out. It’s 45 players for 300, eight have received a commemorative medal for reaching 400 appearances, and Brighton & Hove Albion’s James Milner is the only player to surpass 500 (he did this during his time at Liverpool) and 600 appearances.

Although Milner is tied with Gareth Barry on 653 top-flight appearances, Barry’s final season in the Premier League was in 2017-18, and he had already surpassed 600 games before the campaign started, meaning he missed out on a medal altogether.

When it comes to scoring 50 Premier League goals, 47 players have hit that milestone since August 2017. Only nine have managed at least 100 career goals, and three players — Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane — have passed the 150-goal mark.

Wayne Rooney was on 198 goals heading into the 2017-18 season, so he received a medal when he passed 200 during that campaign. Kane also has a commemorative medal for scoring more than 200 times, although Liverpool’s Salah is 10 league goals shy of receiving one himself.

There are only four goalkeepers — David de Gea, Ederson, Hugo Lloris and Alisson — since the beginning of the 2017-18 season to pass 100 clean sheets.

Who makes the awards?

Thomas Lyte, a London-based goldsmith and silversmith, designs and makes the commemorative milestones.

Other trophies crafted by Thomas Lyte include the men’s and women’s FA Cups and the Community Shield, along with the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups.

In tennis, they are behind the trophies for the Laver Cup, Davis Cup, and the ATP and WTA Finals, as well as cricket’s ICC Test World Championship.

Asprey London, a luxury jeweller, was responsible for creating the Premier League trophy in 1992.

Additional contributor: Will Jeanes

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