The new Programme has been formulated to drive funds into areas where it can directly play a beneficial role. It kicks-off on January 1 2006 and includes two lead FA Charity Partners, with whom The FA will work over the years.

The selected two lead FA Charity Partners are: 

In addition, there will be three 2006 FA Charity Partners, to be reviewed at the end of the year. This will give the Programme flexibility every year to work with a range of causes.

The three 2006 FA Charity Partners are: 

  • The Bobby Moore Fund, part of Cancer Research UK and established to honour the memory of the late England captain, who died from bowel cancer; 
  • BBC Sport Relief, raising money for a range of projects while urging the nation to get involved in sport; 
  • SOS Children’s Villages, which provides a family home for orphans around the world and is an official charity partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The FA will support these five charities in two key ways; Firstly, through a donation of funds derived from revenues generated by the annual curtain-raiser match to the professional season, The FA Community Shield, played in August between the Premiership and FA Cup winners.

Secondly, the Programme will also see the granting of an inventory of rights to each charity to help their general fund-raising efforts. Apart from official association with The FA, such rights will include items to use as auction prizes, as well as help with specific fund-raising projects.

Local community charities will continue to be supported by additional donations from The FA Community Shield revenues distributed through clubs who appear in The FA Cup from the first round onwards.

"We have spent a long time reviewing our charitable donations, mainly to ensure there’s a logical connection between the organisations we support and the areas The FA can directly and positively influence," says FA Chairman Geoff Thompson.

"With that in mind, we’ve looked across the charity spectrum and compiled a shortlist from which five specific charities have been selected.

"Understandably, the selected charities work mostly in England, but the inclusion of BBC Sport Relief and SOS Children takes our work beyond these shores.

"The new Programme also enables us to develop deeper relationships with charities – and will go beyond the donation of funds. Where we can, we want to play an active role in lending our weight to each charity’s fund-raising work."

The FA Community Shield is The FA’s main charity fund-raising event of the year, but it’s estimated an additional £250,000 a year is raised for charity via the auction of autographed items such as England shirts, footballs and pennants.

"The FA is a not-for-profit organisation, and all the surplus revenues we generate are re-invested in the game itself," says Thompson.

"So in effect we play a quasi-charitable role ourselves with regard to football, and have ploughed more than £100-million back into the game at all levels over the last three years."