Ovechkin became the finalist of the ESPN Award named after Mohammed Ali

The captain of the NHL Club “Washington Capitals” Alexander Ovechkin was among the nominees for the ESPN Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award 2025, the club’s press service reports.

The award is awarded to an athlete whose “demonstrated leadership in sports had a significant positive impact on society.” The prize is named after the legendary boxer Mohammed Ali.

Also, this award is claimed by basketball player Xi Jay McColluum and tennis player Sloan Stevens. This year, the Sports Humanitarian Awards awards will be held on July 15.

Ovechkin created the project “The GR8 Chase for Victory Over Cancer” to increase the awareness and raise funds for cancer research in children. Ovechkin, starting from his 885th goal in his career, sacrifices money in an amount equal to the number of his next puck in his career.

In the season – 2024/25 Ovechkin became the best sniper in the history of regular NHL championships with 897 goals. Previously, the record belonged to Canadian Wayne Gretzki (894). Given the playoffs of the 39 -year -old Ovechkin 974 goals in the NHL, according to this indicator, he goes the second after Gretzka (1016).