The Football Association of Ireland have won the UEFA Grow Award.
The association was recognised for its "ongoing governance reform programme" winning in the Organisational Development Project category.
The UEFA citation read: “The FAI’s new constitution and extensive programme of structural reform was crucial in modernising the organisation, rebuilding stakeholder trust and ensuring it can thrive in the future.
"By engaging with stakeholders, including UEFA and the UEFA Grow team throughout the process, the FAI has shown that great change can be achieved in a short period of time.”
The Grow Awards also provides a Europe-wide platform for sharing the best-practice models and strategic initiatives from across UEFA’s 55 member national associations.
In 2021 there were 150 applications from projects and programmes from 43 associations across the eight award categories, which were whittled down to 24 nominations.
The award was accepted on behalf of the FAI by football legend and UEFA ambassador Luis Figo at a virtual event broadcast in Geneva.
FAI CEO Jonathan Hill said: “I am really pleased for everyone involved in this ongoing process of organisational change within Irish football. There are way too many to people to thank for the many hours of hard work committed to helping us become the progressive, modern fit-for-purpose Association everyone wants us to be.
“Governance reform is a gradual process and having a strong governance core is critical to future success, not just for us at national level but for the whole of our affiliate infrastructure. Thanks to UEFA for recognising the work done here and to all of the Irish football community and our stakeholders in making this happen.”
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