The Football Association was awarded the Best Sports Site of 2012 in a prestigious website awards ceremony last night.

TheFA.com earned the accolade at the Sitecore Sites of the Year 2012 awards, held at the top of Centre Point in London.

The awards, now in their fifth year, recognise some of the best and most user-focused websites and content across all areas of business and recreation from the United Kingdom.

TheFA.com jointly won its sports category award alongside The Open, beating off stiff competition from the likes of the Rugby Football Union and Sunderland Football Club. Other winners on the night included EasyJet, Wagamama and Oxfam.

TheFA.com was seen as leading the way in many aspects, including consumer focused content, design, clear navigation and use of social media.

A Sitecore statement read: “TheFA.com is a leading football site which can rival any leading football or not-for-profit site in the country.

“It contains all the information the user needs to be involved in football – either as a fan, coach, referee or volunteer.”

New sections of TheFA.com launched in 2012 have also been a success, including the Rules and Governance section, My Football, and St George’s Park.

The award also recognises the work completed across a new network of 50 County Football Association websites, also released this year, detailing everything anyone needs to know about what is going on about football in your local area.

Mark Gilbert, Head of Editorial Content, said: “We are immensely proud that all the hard work of many staff in The FA and across the County Associations has been recognised with this award.

“We have great plans for 2013 to bring even better experiences to users of our website and social media platforms.

“These include considerably more news content, video and statistical information and more ways to learn about our football coaching courses.”