Robert Sullivan appointed CEO of the Football Foundation

The Premier League, The FA and Government’s charity, the Football Foundation is delighted to announce the appointment of Robert Sullivan as its permanent Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.

The appointment comes after an extensive open recruitment process which brought forward a range of high quality, diverse candidates. Foundation Chairman Martin Glenn commented:

“I’m delighted that Robert will be taking on the executive leadership of the Football Foundation on a permanent basis. In a really competitive field of excellent candidates, both his experience within facility investment and potential to grow as a leader, really stood out. He’s shown in taking the Interim position over the last seven months his ability to lead and manage through difficult times. The Board and I look forward to this partnership developing in the years to come.”

“The Football Foundation is at an exciting moment. With the recently announced publication of our Local Football Facility Plans, we have, for the first time, a specific roadmap to transform grassroots community sports facilities across England. I look forward to working with Robert as he brings the best out in the Foundation and our partners to meet this challenge.”

Robert Sullivan has been Interim CEO at the Foundation since 1 April 2020. He is a former Strategy and Communications Director at The FA where he developed and led the Parklife Hubs programme, and led their Facility Investment work for three years. He established, and was the first Chair, of the Foundation’s National Football Facilities Strategy Advisory Group. Speaking on his appointment, he said:

“It’s a real privilege to be given the responsibility to lead the Football Foundation. Transforming the state of grassroots football facilities in England is the most important challenge our game faces – and it’s a challenge I care passionately about. I’ve really enjoyed this interim period, and greatly value the support I’ve received from the Foundation team, funding partners, Martin and the Trustees.”

“I can’t wait to get started.”

• For more information please contact Sam Bunis on sam.bunis@footballfoundation.org.uk.

Notes to Editors 

About the Football Foundation

The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK.  It champions and supports fair access to quality football facilities for everyone, regardless of postcode, gender, race, disability or place.

The Foundation receives money from the Premier League, The FA and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, through Sport England. This is matched with partnership funding and awarded as grants to create outstanding grassroots facilities that enable better games and attract more players, helping to transform communities.

The Football Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Since 2000, it has awarded 13,214 grants to improve facilities worth more than £632m – including 914 artificial grass pitches, 5,687 natural grass pitches and 1,261 changing facilities.  This has attracted an additional £738m of partnership funding – totalling over £1.5bn investment in grassroots football so far.

Through the Foundation, the Premier League, The FA, DCMS and Sport England have come together to create the National Football Facilities Strategy (NFFS) that will guide work over the next ten years to transform many more local facilities. Local Football Facility Plans (LFFP) are being created to identify priority projects where demand is greatest, and the impact will be strongest and help stimulate the action required to deliver them.