Brazilian teen superstar Neymar could not hide his joy when his name was called out as the winner of the FIFA Puskas award for the best goal scored in 2011. The 19 year old won the award after more than 1.5 million internet users and football experts voted in favour of his sublime solo effort against Fluminense

Speaking to the press after the ceremony, Neymar could not hide his joy and excitement at winning the prestigious award calling it the best goal he has ever scored.

In a gala event AC Milan were awarded the prestigious award of China's Sport's Team of the Year

Three soccer players from Virginia have been named semifinalists of the Inspireum Soccer Awards. Tyler Hobbs (Chesapeake), Christian Metzler (Woodbridge), and Gaela Normile (Virginia Beach) are hoping to win the $25,000 in scholarships.
The list of 50 semifinalists will be narrowed down to 12 finalists on December 13th by the National Selection Committee that includes coaches April Heinrichs and Jurgen Klinsmann.

In a gala event Milan were awarded the prestigious award of China's Sport's Team of the Year with Adriano Galliani present to receive the accolade alongside other dignitaries. It is a significiant achievement for the club as Asia, particularly China, represents a real opportunity in economic terms. Successfully marketing the AC Milan brand into Asia [.

The Confederation of African Football has released its short list for 2011 CAF African Player of the year. The list includes usual suspects Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast, Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon and Seydou Keita of Mali.

Other players short listed for the prestigious award include: Asamoah Gyan, Yaya Toure, Kevin Prince-Boateng, Moussa Sow, Gervinho, Adel Taarabt and Andre Ayew.

It's getting to be the end of the year, which means the buzz starts for year end awards, including the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year (or Sportswoman as the case may be).
(Editor's Note: The U.S. Women's World Cup Team won the prestigious award in 1999 and surely had the USA won the Women's World Cup, this year's squad would have been in the conversation).

LFC scooped another industry accolade recently when it landed the prestigious Best Digital Marketing Campaign from the MBNA Northern Sports Awards for its 'We Make The Shirt. You Make It Liverpool FC' launch.
The 2010-11 kit launch, which saw a sponsor change to Standard Chartered Bank, was an historic event for LFC and the club wanted to create a point of difference.

Ashley Bares (Ozaukee/Marquette) now has a pretty prestigious award to go along with all those goals she's scored this season.

The Stjarnan forward was named the league's player halfway through the season in the Úrvalsdeild, the highest level of women's soccer in Iceland.

Liverpool Football Club's Stadium Tours and Museum are celebrating having picked up the Best Large Visitor Attraction title at The Merseyside Partnership Annual Tourism Awards 2011.
The Club's fun and interactive stadium tours have trained guides and LFC football legends who provide fascinating insights into Anfield's celebrated past and takes in rarely seen areas of the stadium.

Luka hadn't quite perfected the art of the angry punchSettle down at the back there. The most gratifying part of a blogsworth's existence is the customary handing out of end-of-season awards - where players and games are rated and slated and the very best moments of the previous 10 months can be reminisced over.

Last March there was a report coming out of Australia that Adelaide United player Marcos Flores could be heading to the Portland Timbers before the transfer window closes as the team's Designated Player. This report ended up being false, at least according to its time table. Yesterday a fresh report popped up on Adelaide Now (Adelaide's newspaper) that the Timbers might be interested in him.

It's just after 9am the morning before he collects his Footballer of the Year Award, writes Ken Dyer, but Scott Parker is already at West Ham's training ground, changed and ready to test his troublesome Achilles tendon. On top of a cabinet in the club's media office stand three big bottles of man-of-the-match Champagne.

Last night's announcement that Gareth Bale has been named PFA Player of the Year was not a great surprise to many. Bale fought off competition from the likes of Charlie Adam, Rafael van der Vaart, Carlos Tevez and Nemanja Vidic to scoop the prestigious award, voted for the highest proportion of his fellow professionals.

Ashley Cole has been named England's Player of the Year for 2010 as voted by the fans, Cole beat off competition from Steven Gerrard and Adam Johnson to claim the prestigious award.

Cole only missed three Internationals last year all of which were friendlies. Past players to have claimed the award are David Beckham 2003, Frank Lampard 2004 and 2005, Steven Gerrard 2007 and Wayne Rooney 2008 and 2009.

Next time you find yourself in Ohio searching for the best soccer action the Buckeye State has to offer, skip Crew Stadium and drive the 121 miles northeast to Lee Jackson Field, where the Akron Zips are fast becoming the pride of American college soccer. Following up his side's heart-breaking penalty shoot-out loss in the 2009 national championship to Wake Forest, Coach Caleb Porter led this year's edition of the Zips to the promised land, knocking off number one seeded Louisville 1-0 to claim this year's crown, the first D1 national championship in the school's history.