£102m earmarked for grassroots football facilities

Grassroots football facilities in England are set to benefit from £102m of investment over the next three years.

The Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund will provide financial aid to hundreds of grassroots facility projects across the country, aimed at improving the experience of playing the national game at the lowest levels and help to increase participation in football.

The funding will be provided jointly by Sport England, the FA and the Premier League and delivered by the Football Foundation.

Many of the facilities created by the fund will be designed to strengthen the connection between professional football clubs and their local communities, particularly in the most deprived areas of the country, through the professional clubs' community trusts' outreach work.

Launching the new fund at a school in central London, the newly-appointed minister for sport and equalities, Helen Grant, said: "This partnership between the Premier League, the FA, Sport England and government shows what can be achieved when the public and private sectors work together to help strengthen our national game at the grassroots.

"The investment of £102m into facilities, delivered by the Football Foundation, will encourage many people to get into sport in some of the most deprived areas of the country."

The Football Foundation was set up by the Premier League, The FA and the Government in 2000. Since then 9,600 grants worth £412m have been awarded thanks to investment from those three funding partners.