The first British South Asian current or former player ever to be bestowed with an honour is Anwar Uddin, who has been awarded an MBE for services to association football.
This year's honours coincide with four days of national celebration to mark Queen Elizabeth's 70 years on the throne, and FA Council member Uddin is one of just four football players to be honoured. Rio Ferdinand is a former teammate of Uddin's at the West Ham academy.
Uddin is the first British-Bangladeshi player in English football history and joins an illustrious list of previous recipients, including every member of the 1966 World Cup-winning squad.
Sky Sports News exclusively revealed that Uddin was set for a historic appointment as England C assistant manager, and that he was one of the few players in modern times to emerge from Tower Hamlets.
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After a short stint at Wednesday, the former centre-back went on to play for Bristol Rovers before moving to London to join Dagenham and Redbridge where he made more than 200 appearances across six seasons.
Uddin became the first British South Asian to captain a league side and lift a trophy under the arch at Wembley Stadium when the Daggers secured promotion to League One.
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He became the first English Football League coach from Britain's South Asian community when he became interim assistant manager to Giuliano Grazioli after John Still left.
Uddin's father hails from Bangladesh and he had spells at Sutton United and Ware before hanging up his boots.
He spent two-and-a-half years as an assistant to Danny Searle at Aldershot before rejoining Paul Fairclough as a manager for the England C team.
One of the most diverse dugouts in England's international football history was created when Uddin brought in three South Asian heritage coaches.
The Fans for Diversity campaign is a joint initiative between the Football Supporters Association and Kick It Out promoting diversity and inclusion in football. He has helped create around 200 diverse supporters groups across the country.
Uddin has worked with the Show Racism the Red Card charity and the Professional Footballers Association and has publicly backed Sky Sports work to raise awareness and change the narrative around British South Asians in football.
The first South Asian Action Plan was launched by the premier league to address the under-representation of British South Asian football players in the academy system.
British South Asians are the largest ethnic minority group in the country, yet they have been under-represented in the professional game for decades.
Despite healthy participation rates across the country, less than 1% of professional footballers in English professional football are from a South Asian background.
South Asians are in football.
Sky Sports has a South Asians in Football page on skysports.com and South Asians in the Game is on the Sky Sports digital platforms.
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