In sports, a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests. Initially used in professional sports, the term is now also commonly used in amateur sports, as well as in other completely unrelated fields of endeavor such as business and music awards. A similar award in some sports, such as soccer, is man of the match. The term Most Valuable Player is most often used in the United States.
As the term MVP is awarded by coaches and team mates, the V should represent 'valued' not 'valuable'. To say a player is most valuable would be to imply his or her resale value is the highest. In fact the award is given to the player most appreciated by his or her colleagues, ie. the most valued.
In the Australian Football League, the AFL Players Association awards a "Most Valuable Player" award now known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy, voted by peers and considered by many observers of the game to be more indicative of the Best and Fairest player than the Brownlow Medal. In the Canadian Football League they also have the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award (regular season) and the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player (playoffs). The Philippine Basketball Association also awards its own Most Valuable Award.
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences makes "Most Valuable Player" awards annually in a number of instrumental categories.
MVP is often used in business to designate a valued employee. In this context, sometimes the "P" in "MVP" is something other than "Player." So, for example, Microsoft uses MVP to mean Most Valuable Professional. The term is applied to recognized, credible, and accessible individuals with expertise in one or more Microsoft products who actively participate in online and offline communities to share their knowledge and expertise with other Microsoft customers.