The Women's Football Awards are awards recognising achievements in women's association football — both on-pitch performance and in promotion and sustainability — predominantly in the United Kingdom. Annual awards, they were first presented in 2023.
History
The Women's Football Awards was announced in 2022 and was promoted as the first major awards event solely for women's football. Awards are presented in various categories relating to success in the game and in supporting its growth. While celebrating achievements globally, the focus of the awards is domestic women's football in the United Kingdom (and, generally, England).[1] Ahead of the second edition, co-host Eni Aluko described the awards as "Britain and Europe's biggest award event for women's football".[2] According to the Women's Football Awards website, the International Player of the Year award is for the best player on the world stage; they are still nominated by club.[3]
Nominations are made by the public, with winners decided by a combination of public and jury votes.[1]
Per Beth Mead, who supported the awards, they intend to "shine a light on the success in the game and the people, brands and organisations which support its growth".[1] As of 2024, the awards are run in association with TikTok and Metro.[4]
2023
The ceremony for the inaugural edition was held at the Nobu Hotel in London on 25 May 2023, hosted by former footballers and pundits Eni Aluko and Jamie Carragher. The major sponsor was Shein, which supported grassroots nominees to attend the ceremony. Entertainment was provided by Heather Small and Fleur East.[1][5] In 2023, the awards were run in association with Mail Sport and Metro.[5]
Lifetime Achievement Award:Karen Carney (144 England caps)[6]
Special Recognition Award:Carol Thomas (England captain at the first Women's Euro)[6]
Aluko and Carragher returned as hosts for the ceremony on 30 May 2024, with Shein also returning as sponsor.[2][9] In this edition, the categories also had a highly commended nominee behind the winner.[10]
As well as the nominated awards, four categories were awarded without having named nominees. The first two were handed out before the nominated categories, and the second two at the end of the ceremony:[11]
The awards saw 20,000 public votes in their inaugural edition,[13] increasing to 25,000 in the second year.[10]
There was negative reaction to the Football Ally of the Year award, presented in the inaugural edition. Initially, it had been named "Male Football Ally of the Year". Fan responses questioned the need for an award celebrating men, and it was noted that the nominees had done nothing visible for women's football: some had congratulated women's footballers on social media and others had not had any public involvement at all. Harry Kane was one of the recipients,[13] with The Times writing that his contribution of celebrating the Lionesses' UEFA Women's Euro 2022 victory meant "it was like being named Animal Rights Activist of the Year because you once smiled at a dog in the park."[14]
The same award was made more muted the next, but still generated negative responses: it was given to Jermaine Jenas, with fans suggesting he had even less apparent involvement in women's football than the previous year's nominees. In accepting the award, Jenas himself noted that he did not know what he had done to warrant it; The Telegraph's Tom Garry felt the award was misconceived and that men who merely respect women do not "deserve applause merely for not being bad human beings." Garry suggested that if the Women's Football Awards insisted on continuing with it, they should recognise men who have helped grow or promote women's football through their work.[11]
