UEFA.com honoured in Webby Awards

UEFA's official website UEFA.com has been selected as an Official Honoree for the sports category in The 14th Annual Webby Awards, which honour excellence on the internet. UEFA.com has been honoured four times in the Webby Awards in recent years.

The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15% of all work entered that exhibits remarkable achievement. With nearly 10,000 entries received from over 60 countries, the distinction is considered by the organisers to be an outstanding accomplishment.

Established in 1996 and described as "the Oscars of the Internet" by The New York Times, the Webbys are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a body of leading web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities. The Academy evaluates websites based on six criteria: content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and overall experience.

UEFA.com has received an Official Honoree selection directly in the sports category for the first time. In addition, UEFA.com is one of the few soccer websites to receive a prize. UEFA.com has been given three other honours in the Webby Awards in the past four years: Best Home/Welcome page (2007); Best Podcast (2007); Best Home/Welcome page (for the official UEFA EURO 2008 tournament website euro2008.com) (2009).

UEFA.com and euro2008.com were also recognised in the 2009 Ultimate Sports Website Awards published by SportBusiness.com. The euro2008.com site, which had set traffic records for a tournament website, won three awards - Best Overall Event Site, Best Content for an Event Site and Best Site for Attracting New Fans (event site). UEFA.com landed a fourth award when named as the Best Site for Attracting New Fans (federation or league sector).

The UEFA.com website was relaunched on 5 February 2010 following an extensive review. Further updates are expected ahead of the start of the 2010/11 season in August 2010.

"We have been conducting an extensive review of all aspects of UEFA.com over the past 12 months, and this vindicates the efforts that we have made," said Alexandre Fourtoy, UEFA's director of communications.

"To be acknowledged by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in the sports category for the first time proves that the project is delivering the right results in terms of both usability, functionality and the editorial offering. Our new site has concentrated on the reorganisation of content in a more efficient way, and with more creative features and editorial depth planned in the coming months, we expect to bring UEFA.com to a new level prior to and during the 2010/11 season."