Former England managers Roy Hodgson and Hope Powell were tonight honoured with the 2022 PFA Merit Award.
Hodgson this season retired from the game after failing to keep Watford in the Premier League. Last month the 74-year-old received a CBE at Buckingham Palace for his services to football.
The veteran started coaching in 1976 at Halmstads BK in Sweden and went on to hold 21 permanent management roles across eight countries, including Liverpool, Inter Milan, Fulham, Crystal Palace and four year with the Three Lions.
Hodgson said: “It is a real honour to receive this award, it is unexpected but that makes me all the more grateful. I never won any trophies as a player unfortunately, so it is nice to be recognised by fellow professionals. It will have pride of place.
“When you have had a long career and you have had some success with it, you have to look back with great gratitude and humility. You realise there are so many steps along the way where things went right for you, and I have had that fortune that everybody needs. I have always tried to do the job with passion, I have had a certain enthusiasm and energy that I have always tried to bring to the job and those two qualities are very important to for anyone in football either player, manager or coach.
“I will look back with great gratitude and humility for what football has given me and it’s wonderful to get a trophy which proves that people believe I have given something back, I will treasure this trophy.”
Powell was manager of the Lionesses - their first female head coach - for a staggered 15 years before stepping down in 2013. She returned to management in 2017 with Brighton where she remains today.
She said: “It is a real honour to receive this trophy, I feel lucky and blessed to be in the game after many years, really grateful.
“One of the nice things about being involved in the game are the vast experiences I have had over the years, whether as a player or manager at FIFA World Cups, European finals or the Olympics and now at Brighton and Hove Albion. Each section has been very different but largely very enjoyable and I feel very lucky and privileged to be in this position.
“I have never been afraid to ask questions and challenge people, I think I have helped shaped the game and drive it forward along with lots of other people. So, I’m hoping I’ll be remembered as someone who was passionate and wanted the best for women’s football on a local and national level.”
