Leaders in Football Conference: Sports Performance Awards a major success. Pierluigi Collina and Jean Pierre Meeserman awarded

The UEFA Head of Refereeing received the award for his services to the category whilst Belgian Dr. Jean Pierre Meeserman was prized for his scientific career achievements and as founder of Milan Lab facility at AC Milan's training ground. Also awarded were unsung heroes Jenny Archer who has coached 4 times Paralympic Gold medallist David Weir since he was a young boy.

Leaders in Football's Chelsea FC's Conference yesterday / Picture CSE Ltd

LONDON. The inaugural Sports Performance Awards has been hailed a huge success after a spectacular evening attended by sports stars from all over the world to celebrate the people who defined their careers.

The Awards, exclusively covered by Sky Sports and Radio 5 Live, saw Gary Kirsten Head Coach of South Africa Cricket honour Dave Brailsford for his contribution to the British Cycling team, Ronald de Boer present an award to Carles Floguero of Barcelona for finding and developing Messi, Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta and many other Barcelona stars, and Gerard Houllier acknowledging Pierluigi Collina for his services to the refereeing.

Unsung heroes Jenny Archer who has coached 4 times Paralympic Gold medallist David Weir since he was a young boy and Jean Pierre Meeserman, Founder of the Milan, also received an Award infront of their peers.

The evening was poignantly rounded off with Fabrice Muamba presenting an Award for medical excellence to the medical teams at Spus, Bolton and the London Chest hospital for saving his life.

An expert advisory panel consisting of professionals from Everton FC, Chelsea FC, USA Olympic Committee, McLaren Applied Technologies, Chelsea, Prozone, NY Knicks as well as Sports Writer Matthew Syed oversaw the judging process with each Award winner receiving a beautifully framed and personalised artists impression of their career highlights.

James Worrall, CEO of the Leaders Sports Summit, organisers of the Awards said “The Sports Performance Awards were a fitting tribute to those people who work tirelessly behind the scenes driving sports performance across the world. The support for the event signifies its importance and the feedback from presenters, Awards winner and the audience has been overwhelming”