Leicestershire & Rutland County Football Association [LRCFA] has landed the Womens & Girls Award at the inaugural County FA Recognition Awards for its Girls Leadership Academy.

The Awards were introduced this year to recognise and endorse the best projects, products and services launched by County FAs over the past season while sharing best practice and learnings from around the country.

From the 50 County FAs operating across England, 39 of them entered over 150 submissions, highlighting continuous improvements and showcasing how they are innovating to improve football and increase participation across all levels of the game.

The eight categories recognised on the night were:

• Brand Engagement
• Digital Engagement
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Football Development
• Insight & Data
• Partnership
• Women & Girls
• Special Recognition.

LRCFA was handed the Women and Girls award for the creation of a 'Girls Leadership Academy' involving 12 female Year 6 pupils from a school that supports the SSE Wildcats session. This session has over 40 girls attending weekly and is located within a diverse community that has areas of high deprivation and low activity levels. Due to the high number of players with additional needs involved within these football sessions, it was important that the Girls Leadership Academy were able to support the weekly sessions. 10 girls have now made the transition from the SSE Wildacts Centre to an FA Charter Standard Community club that plays in the LR Inclusive league.

Kelly Ellis, CEO, LRCFA said:"It was an honour to receive this recognition and I’m proud of the hard work our entire team puts in towards improving the level of football and increasing participation across the region. Hopefully we can continue to build on this for many years to come."

FA Chief Executive Martin Glenn added: "It gives us great pleasure to recognise and reward our County FAs. The work they do in their local communities to inspire a lifelong journey in football are absolutely vital in ensuring we continue to develop, promote and protect the game.

"It’s testament to their work that we now have the highest number of boys playing affiliated football recorded to date, and we are well on track to deliver on our ambition to double participation in the female game."

The judges commented that: "Efforts locally have been turbo charged to ensure that football becomes the #1 team sport of choice for every girl and woman in England. the project was inclusive, innovative and reaches a notoriously difficult audience of participants."

Additional to the Women & girls award, LRCFA was shortlisted for its work in the Insight and Data category for the Adult Player Survey.

For more information on the work of County FAs, visit www.thefa.com

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For further information, please contact:

Aaron Bains

Corporate Communications Manager

Aaron.Bains@thefa.com / 07970 739307

About The FA

The Football Association [The FA] is the not-for-profit governing body of football in England. It is responsible for promoting and developing every level of the game, from grassroots through to the professional game, and successfully generates enough revenue to support the investment of well over £100m into English football each year. 

The FA oversees 28 England international teams, across men’s, women’s, youth and disability football, as well as running FA Competitions, including the Emirates FA Cup and SSE Women's FA Cup, and the world-class facilities of Wembley Stadium and St. George’s Park, all with a purpose to Unite the Game and Inspire the Nation.