After pouring over this year’s WFS Awards nominees, World Football Summit’s industry-leading teams of judges – that spanned five continents and included some of the biggest names in football – have selected the 2021 finalists.
The result is one of the most global groups of contenders in WFS Awards history, with the final three in all nine categories representing projects, people and organisations from all over the world.
One winner has already been announced and that is England international Marcus Rashford MBE who will take home the Marcus Rashford Award that was created by World Football Summit in partnership with Facebook.
Not only will Rashford take home the gong as recognition for his life changing campaigning on child food poverty, but it has also been named in his honour to secure the legacy of his work. It will subsequently be given to athletes that use their platforms to bring about positive societal change.
The remaining finalists will have to wait until 9 September, 2021 to find out if they will join Rashford in the WFS Awards Hall of Fame before eventually taking to the Wanda Metropolitano stage at WFS Europe on 22 September.
Those in contention include global figureheads Aleksander Ceferin (UEFA), Dave Jenkins (Haslam Sports Group) and Susan Whelan (Leicester City FC) in the Best Executive category, presented by Nolan Partners.
SportstechX present the Best Supplier award, which has been narrowed down to Driblab S.L., Pixellot, and Slate, while the Football for Good category – presented by Common Goal – shows the power of sport all over the planet with 23 Sports, ISF Cambodia, and Pledgeball all in the running.
The Best Venue prize – presented by Mondo Stadia – could end up in the hallways of either the Japan National Stadium, the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, or the Schwarzwald-Stadion, while the Best Club Commercial Initiative – presented by McCann Worldgroup – is a rare all-European affair, with one of Arsenal FC, Celta de Vigo or Manchester United FC to be named the victor in a week’s time.
Women in Football present the highly-competitive Best Women’s Football Initiative that this year names Liga MX/Ascenso MX, Bravehearts, and soccer-MOMS in its top-three entries Elsewhere, the Best Internationalisation Strategy award – presented by Deloitte – will be lifted by Everton FC, Sevilla FC & FC Bengaluru United, or Valencia CF.
Known as a celebration of industry innovators and disruptors, the remaining two categories – Best Digital Platform, presented by Seven League and Outstanding Innovation Initiative, presented by N3XT Sports – contain both current, and potential, game changers.
Eleven Kings S.A., Fractal Media, and Socios are up for the former, while AiSCOUT, BeFootball S.L., and Fanera are hoping for glory in the latter.
Anyone wishing to book their spot at WFS Europe, can do so today at: https://worldfootballsummit.com/index-wfs/
