Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) today initiated an important tradition for women’s football in Australia with the inauguration of the 2010 PFA Women’s Footballer of the Year award.
The player voted as Australia’s best female footballer by her peers will receive a medal featuring the image of Matildas’ legend Cheryl Salisbury.
The honour will be presented for the first time at the 2010 Australian Football Awards gala to be held in Sydney on 7 October 2010.
Matildas’ Captain Melissa Barbieri commented on the significance of the new award, especially in the context of what was a monumental 2009/2010 season for the team.
“It is fantastic that our female players can now honour the peer we consider to be Australia’s best performer throughout the season,” she said. “There have been some amazing moments for the female game this year which of course culminated on that famous evening in Chengdu and the lifting of the AFC Asian Cup. I look forward to celebrating this stand out season with the Australian football family in October.”
All female PFA members will now be invited to vote on a 3, 2, 1 basis to determine the best female footballer of 2009/2010.
The Australian Football Awards also incorporate the Football Federation Australia (FFA) awards which recognise the entire football family at a professional and non professional level. The professional category includes FFA Footballer of the Year and FFA U20 Footballer of the Year awards for both men and women, honouring on field excellence and off field professionalism of Australian professional football players. The non professional category includes a team, volunteer, coach and referee award.
