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Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs has been overlooked for the 15-player shortlist for the 2024 Premier League Hall of Fame nominations, despite continuing to hold the record of 13 Premier League winners’ medals.
Giggs, who retired at the end of the 2013-14 season after making 632 Premier League appearances for United, had charges of coercive or controlling behaviour against his former partner and of assaulting her sister dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in July 2023 and was formally found not guilty after jurors failed to reach verdicts in his first trial in August 2022.
Having first been arrested and charged in November 2020, Giggs subsequently stepped down from his role as Wales manager while awaiting trial. The 50-year-old returned to a role in the game earlier this season by taking the position of director of football at EFL League Two club Salford City, which he co-owns.
The Premier League Hall of Fame was launched in 2021 with Giggs not considered in any of the first three induction cycles due to the ongoing legal proceedings.
When asked by ESPN about Giggs’s ongoing absence from the Hall of Fame and the criteria for selection, the Premier League declined to comment publicly.
However, guidance on the Premier League website states that players will only be considered on the basis on their Premier League career and if they have made at least 250 appearances.
Former Arsenal players Tony Adams and Ian Wright, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023 and 2022 respectively, were both selected despite having previously served custodial prison sentences.
Former Chelsea and England captain John Terry has been announced as one of the 15 players in this year’s shortlist, despite being banned for four matches and fined £220,000 by a Football Association commission in 2012 for racially abusing Queen’s Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.
Selection for the shortlist is at the discretion of the Premier League in consultation with members of the Premier League Awards Panel.
Sol Campbell, Michael Carrick, Andrew Cole, Jermain Defoe, Cesc Fabregas, Les Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Eden Hazard, Gary Neville, Michael Owen, David Silva, John Terry, Yaya Youre, Edwin van der Sar and Nemanja Vidic make up this year’s shortlist of nominees.
Fans can vote for their two choices via the Premier League website until April 8, with the two successful inductees being announced on April 22.