The FA has welcomed new Government plans to transform primary school sport with a £150m-a-year investment.

Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled proposals on Saturday that will improve coaching for the youngest pupils and inspire the sporting stars of the future.

The aim is to build on the inspirational success of London 2012, when Wembley played its part as a host venue to more than 600,000 fans and The FA backed the Team GB football teams at the Olympics and Paralympics.

Alex Horne, General Secretary of The FA, said: “The FA welcomes today’s announcement and the Government’s commitment to invest directly into sport within Primary schools.

"Making sure boys and girls of all abilities receive quality physical education at the earliest ages is essential and football can play a key part in meeting this challenge.

“Our FA Tesco Skills Programme is a great example of a quality coaching course that provides children between the ages of five and 11 with the opportunity to develop their broad physical literacy whilst learning and enjoying the basic skills of our national game.

“We are delighted that it has been independently recognised and accredited by afPE (Association for Physical Education) and we hope that head teachers will consider it an attractive and quality assured option to help deliver sport in their schools."

As well as helping to promote and further initiatives like The FA Tesco Skills Programme, the new sports funding aims to improve the quality of provision in every state primary school in England.

It includes a lump sum for each school with a per-pupil top-up and also ‘ring-fenced’ funding that will have to be spent on sport that could include specialist coaching and teacher training.

Schools will have to show how they spend the money to ensure it brings the maximum sporting benefit for pupils.

The Prime Minister said: “The Olympic and Paralympic Games marked an incredible year for this country and I will always be proud that we showed the world what Britain can do.

"I want to ensure the Games count for the future too and that means capitalising on the inspiration young people took from what they saw during those summer months.

"With this new approach to sport, we can create a culture in our schools that encourages all children to be active and enjoy sport, and helps foster the aspirations of future Olympians and Paralympians.”