What’s new in football

  • Mass participation

    Big numbers

    Grassroots football engages over 14 million people annually, with a focus on inclusivity for all genders and ages. Approximately 69% of clubs have reported increased participation.

  • The women's game is growing

    Lionesses rampant

    Following the Lionesses’ victory in the 2022 Euros, an additional 50,000 girls took up football, increasing participation among girls under 18 to 16%, slightly surpassing netball at 15.4%.

  • Paying it back to grassroots

    Billionaire’s balls

    Since its creation in 2000, the Football Foundation has invested more than £1 billion to improve grassroots facilities across the country – including 1,100 3G football turf pitches, 12,000 grass pitches and 1,400 changing rooms. This has attracted an additional £1.3 billion of partnership funding – totalling over £2 billion investment in grassroots football so far.

  • Embracing British South Asians

    Rising tigers

    The English FA’s Asian inclusion strategy report say 11.9% of adult men and 15.4% of adult women playing grassroots football are of South Asian heritage (surpassing the South Asian population share in England and Wales by around 7 %)

Back to grassroots

“I'm here today because my junior coach (Colin Nixon) was one of the people that gave me an opportunity to play"

Bukayo Saka Arsenal & England
Listen to the gaffer

“Coaching is taking whatever our starting point is and adding another layer to it, and another layer”

Emma Hayes OBE Coached Chelsea Women FC to 16 major trophies

Grassroots in football

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