Brazilian legend misses Awards, but will be Guest Of Honour at Wembley next week

Pele will be unable to make an appearance at The FA England Awards at St. George's Park this Sunday.

The Brazilian legend was due to present the Men's Senior Player Of The Year award at the first ever England Awards.

But the 72-year-old has had to withdraw from attending the event, which will be one of the key highlights of The FA's 150th anniversary year.

However, Pele will still be at Wembley as a special guest of honour next Wednesday for England's game with Brazil.

The three-time World Cup winner said: "I send my regrets and apologies for not being able to join you on this very special evening, celebrating the players and teams of England.

"I have always had a great affection for English football, it's given me very fond memories.

"Congratulations to The FA as it celebrates 150 years, and I'm pleased that Bobby Moore's charity is being recognised at The FA England Awards."

The FA England Awards, in association with Vauxhall, will see men’s, women’s and disability players from all Club England’s 24 teams recognised with a series of awards putting all national development teams in the spotlight.

There will also be a special lifetime achievement award and England fans have voted for their Men’s Senior, Women’s Senior and Men’s Under-21 choices.

The eleven categories are:-

• Senior Men’s Player of the Year (voted for by the public via TheFA.com)
• Senior Women’s Player of the Year (voted for the public via TheFA.com)
• England Men’s Under-21 Player of the Year (voted for by the public via TheFA.com)
• England Women’s Under-23 Player of the Year
• England Men’s Youth Player of the Year
• England Women’s Youth Player of the Year
• Disability Player of the Year
• Club England Team of the Year
• England National Game Player of the Year
• FA Chairman David Bernstein will choose and present the Lifetime Achievement Award