Australian Football Awards - nominations open

Football Federation Australia (FFA) is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2010 Australian Football Awards are now open.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2010 Australian Football Awards are now open.

From the Qantas Socceroos and Westfield Matildas, to the many thousands of Australian's who enjoy playing football each and every week, the Awards is an opportunity for the entire football family to celebrate their passion for our game and to reward outstanding achievements and contributions.

The Australian Football Awards recognise players at a professional level together with teams, volunteers, coaches and referees at a non professional level.

"The popularity of our code continues to grow amongst men, women and children with approximately 970,000 Australians of all age groups playing the game either formally or informally,” said FFA CEO Ben Buckley.

"And with the start of the local winter football season just around the corner, we are searching the country for the Team of the Year.

"Nominations for Team of the Year are open from today and we are calling out the the football family to nominate their team, or another team, that they believe deserve be rewarded," he said.

Team of the Year Award is open to any team which is part of a club registered with FFA, across all age groups. Teams may nominate online by visiting www.footballaustralia.com.au/footballawards until 5.00pm AEDT on 26 March 2010.

All winners of the 2010 Australian Football Awards will be announced at a special gala ceremony in Melbourne on 22 May. This is the second consecutive year the Awards have been held.

There are three main categories in the Australian Football Awards. The general awards category includes FFA Medal and Community Service Award. The professional category includes Footballer of the Year and U20 Footballer of the Year awards for both men and women. These awards will recognise on field excellence and off field professionalism of Australian professional football players. The non professional category includes a team, volunteer, coach and referee award.