This is an access grant which aims to help improve access to football for all. The funding is for groups that are running football activities for one or more of the following underrepresented groups: women and girls, young people with disabilities, young people from racially diverse communities, young people from the LGBTQ+ community and young people from lower socio-economic groups.
Grants of £1,000 are available. One grant per club/group.
The funding will ideally be spent within a six-month period.
Key Criteria
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Operate in an area of high deprivation and support the hardest to reach young people facing multiple disadvantage. Only organisations located in or supporting young people from IMD areas 1-3 are eligible to apply. (Please note that disability football applications from groups that sit outside of IMD areas 1-3 will be considered.)
- Be already delivering football activities to young people under the age of 25, or you are wanting to start with support from the Access grant.
- Be delivering services directly to beneficiaries from one or more of the priority groups as follows; women and girls, young people with disabilities, from racially diverse communities, from the LGBTQ+ community and from lower socio-economic groups.
Groups who received a £500 grant from the Barclays Community Football Fund in 2022 or 2023 are eligible to reapply. However, if the fund is oversubscribed, priority will be given to applications from new groups.
Groups who received a larger, deep impact grant from the Barclays Community Football Fund in 2022 or 2023 are not eligible to reapply.
The funding can be used for anything that will support delivery of football activities to under-represented groups.
Typical examples of costs might include a contribution towards:
- Venue hire including floodlights and heating.
- Coaching costs
- Volunteer expenses
- Equipment
- Kit
- Marketing and communications
- Training and qualifications
- Insurances and affiliation
The funding should support engaging under-represented young people, particularly girls, and get them involved in football activities.
There will be two funding rounds in 2024:
- Round one opens 12 February and closes 12 April 2024.
- Round two opens 15 July and closes 15 September 2024.
The FAQs, application guidance, and online application form can be found on the Sported website.
Groups who are not a Sported member or existing grantee will need to create an account to start their application.
The Barclays Community Football Fund, in partnership with Sported, is a three-year programme, running from January 2022 to December 2024. During this time, it will offer small grants and additional support resources to grassroots groups across the UK.
