Celebrating 25 Years of the Football Foundation: Creating great Spaces for Sports with Barclays in Anfield

Over the past 25 years the Premier League, The FA, and the Government’s Football Foundation has invested close to £1.3 billion in delivering the facilities, communities up and down the country need and deserve, but we haven’t done it alone. 

2004 saw the launch of Barclays Spaces for Sports – a partnership between Barclays, the Football Foundation alongside Groundwork, an environmental regeneration charity. The £30m programme coincided with Barclays first season as the title sponsor of the Premier League and marked their support for football from grassroots up through investment in every level of the game.

One of the key drivers to apply for funding and get involved with the scheme was “putting our community members and existing users front and centre of our work and ensuring we could offer a high-quality facility to meet local needs” says Karl Carney, Department Manager for Sport & Physical Activity at LFC Foundation who are based from the site. “To be able to create a community hub, fit for purpose, that could provide access to life enhancing and changing opportunities for all ages is critical in underserved communities like Anfield.”

Now, in excess of 3,000 people use the 3G pitch each week and local team Lower Breck F.C. call it their home, cementing the facility as a hub of football in the local community. But it’s not just football players that feel the benefit of this facility. Badminton, table tennis, futsal, gymnastics, basketball, trampolining, karate, boxing and yoga are all offered at the site, providing a great place to play for many people in Anfield.