The Devon County Football Association has been successfully shortlisted for the Coach Development Award at the County FA Recognition Awards 2024 for the Female Coaches Community Project

The Awards, which will be announced at Wembley Stadium connected by EE on Thursday 7 November 2024, recognise and endorse the best projects, products and services delivered by County FAs over the past season while sharing best practice and learnings from around the country.

Over 225 nominations have been entered from the 50 County FAs operating across England, highlighting exceptional delivery and showcasing how they are innovating to improve grassroots football and increase participation across all levels of the game.

The twelve categories which will be recognised at the awards are:

• Brand Engagement
• Coach Development
• Employee Wellbeing & Engagement
• Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
• Facility Development
• Football Development
• Partnership
• Positive Football Environment
• Referee Development
• Special recognition
• Women & Girls
• Youth Engagement

The Devon FA has made the final shortlist for the Coach Development Award for the Devon FA Female Coaches Community. The programme was created to provide female coaches the opportunity of any level, not only to network with other female coaches across the county, but to have access to specific coach development workshops. The Devon FA Female Coaches Community consisted of six bespoke female only coach development workshops which were delivered face-to-face and online. The female coach development group objective was to achieve a flexible, multifaceted coach development community which afforded coaches the platform to share their experiences with other female coaches, collaborate with others and co-create new session ideas, all with the support of FA and county FA staff.

Devon FA CEO, Chris French said:

"It is fantastic to be shortlisted for an award for the first time in this year's Coach Development category.

“Devon FA has experienced great success over a number of seasons, and we look forward to attending the ceremony to celebrate successes across the whole of the network.

“Recognition in these areas is again a testament to the hard work and dedication that our team has in servicing the wonderful grassroots community across Devon.”

The FA’s Head of Operations for Grassroots Football, Tim Foster added:

“I’d like to congratulate the Devon FA in making the final shortlist for the Coach Development Award. We’ve had some outstanding submissions this year, once again highlighting the crucial role County FAs play in their local communities, ensuring accessible opportunities across all football formats and creating a fun and safe environment for all.

“We look forward to celebrating the achievements of our County FAs at Wembley Stadium in November and thanking everyone involved for their efforts across the season.”