Football Foundation welcomes Government investment in community sport facilities

The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation has welcomed today’s announcement in the Budget that the Government will invest an additional £25million into community football facilities this coming year. CEO Robert Sullivan commented:

“This is an announcement of huge significance that will help to transform the quality of sports facilities in the UK. 

“As we recover from the COVID-19 health crisis we need community football now more than ever. Football has the power to transform lives and we must ensure people have access to great places to play. 

“We need more floodlit artificial pitches so people can play in all-weather, any time of day. We need better quality grass pitches, so fewer games are cancelled during the winter months. We need the changing rooms, sports pavilions and community hubs that improve our experience of playing football, are accessible and welcoming to all, and act as a place where people come together. 

“This new Government funding, alongside the investment of the Premier League and The FA, will help accelerate the delivery of the local football facilities plans that we have developed for every community in England and will ensure we build on the 17,600 grassroots football facility projects worth over £1.6 billion we have delivered over the past 20 years.”

Notes to Editors:
The Football Foundation is in the early stages of a ten year strategy to work with local authorities and local communities to deliver Local Football Facilities Plans. Collectively these Plans set out a pipeline of the key facilities every community needs right across the country and they are published on our website here. While the majority of the facilities we fund are for football, 40% of our work is focussed on delivering multi-sport spaces to allow communities to play more than just football. We target our funding at the areas of greatest need, where our investment will have the biggest impact. 

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.

Since 2000, it has awarded more than 17,600 grants to improve facilities worth more than £710m – including 942 artificial grass pitches, 6,426 natural grass pitches and 1,200 changing facilities.  This has attracted an additional £940m of partnership funding – totalling over £1.6bn investment in grassroots football facilities so far.

Through the Foundation, the Premier League, The FA, DCMS and Sport England have come together to create Local Football Facility Plans for every area in England.   They identify priority projects where demand is greatest, and the impact will be strongest.  They will guide work and stimulate the action required to deliver them over the next 10 years to transform many more local facilities.