We are committed to making football accessible, enjoyable and safe for everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality, background or ability.

The FA runs 24 different England teams as well as 11 FA Competitions and has also developed the new Wembley Stadium.

We are also responsible for governing the game, in areas such as disciplinary, compliance, refereeing, agents, financial matters and doping control.

Investment

  • The FA is a not-for-profit organisation
  • Every year The FA invests around £60million back into football
  • Of this total, around £15million per year in invested into improving facilities through the Football Foundation, a partnership with the Premier League and the government.
  • The FA supports and funds 51 County Football Associations.
  • The FA also distributes almost £10million to clubs through The FA Cup Prize Fund, with millions more through broadcast payments for live matches and highlights. The Prize Funds for The FA Trophy, FA Vase and Sunday Cup sees another £1.1million going back into the grassroots game.

Participation

  • Around six million adults and four million children play football in some format in England
  • Women’s football is the fastest growing sport in England and now has over 130,000 players at 9,600 clubs. It is also the number one female sport in the country.
  • In England there are 123,000 affiliated teams, over 2,000 sanctioned leagues and over 45,000 pitches
  • There are also now over 400,000 volunteers helping the game run smoothly
  • England now boasts over 100,000 FA-qualified coaches with around 700 holders of the UEFA A-Licence and over 80 with the highest qualification – the UEFA Pro Licence
  • There are more than 27,000 registered referees across the country

Development

  • The National Game Football development strategy for 2001-2006 provided the opportunity for growth in a number of key areas;
    • 14% growth in Mini-Soccer
    • 38% growth in Boys’ youth football
    • 49% growth in girls football – 6,000 new teams
    • 43% growth in small-sided football
  • The Charter Standard Award scheme, The FA’s football ‘kite mark’ for clubs and schools, now has over 8,500 recipients – 4,000 clubs, 4,500 schools
  • The FA has trained over 27,000 teachers to help schools achieve Charter Standard status FA Learning , the educational arm of The FA, delivers 35 courses covering all aspects of the game
  • Over 100,000 parents have completed the online course ‘Soccer Parent’, aimed at promoting a better understanding of the game
  • Over 12,500 graduates of the eleven online courses aimed at a range of disciplines such us, among others, Player and Match analysis, Coaching Children, Psychology for Soccer and Child Protection.
  • Around 100,000 people have been introduced to the game through The FA’s Disability Programme
  • By promoting The Football For All campaign The FA aims to ensure that everyone has a chance to be involved in football, regardless of ability, race, religion or background
  • Football For All – Equality training developed for all areas of football
  • Foundation and Preliminary Levels of the Sport England and UK Sport Equality Standard achieved
  • Intermediate Level of the Sporting Equals Race Equality Standard achieved
  • Our International Relations activities campaign has brought smiles to thousands of faces around the world through programmes such as;
    • Raising the awareness of HIV and AIDS through ambassador visits to Botswana, Malawi, Lesotho and Mali
    • Providing courses for coaches, referees and players in Africa and the Americas
    • Workshops on tournament preparations, stadia and safety, marketing and communications, etc.
  • Supporter issues are also a key part of The FA’s focus, with the englandfans club supporting fans of the national team, The FA works closely with the Football Supporters Federation and Supporters Direct for the benefit of fans at every level of the game

Governance

  • The FA is responsible for ensuring the Laws of the Game are applied on the field and that The FA Rules and Regulations concerned with running football in England are observed by officials, clubs and players.
  • The Governance Division includes the areas of refereeing, compliance and disciplinary, competitions, football administration, registrations, leagues, crowd control and the Financial Advisory Unit
  • The Compliance department deals with matters relating to breaches of FA rules and regulations both on-field and off-field (eg agents, betting, doping, child protection, etc.)
  • On-field disciplinary matters involving cautions and sendings-off, and any subsequent suspensions, of players from the Premier League to Step 4 of the National League System. Below this level, disciplinary matters are administered by County FAs
  • The Compliance Department conducts investigations and decides whether charges should be brought, but do not decide whether the charges are found proved – this is determined by independent Disciplinary Commissions
  • The FA is responsible for licensing and regulating players’ agents, with new domestic regulations introduced in January this year and a revised set due for implementation soon
  • The Financial Advisory Unit works with clubs to provide advise on financial matters and best practice on corporate governance
  • Seven regional managers oversee and assist County FAs with the recruitment and development of referees at grassroots level
  • The FA appoints officials and is responsible for development at Contributory League level and for The FA’s 11 competitions
  • As part of the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) refereeing co-ordinating body, along with the Premier League and Football League, The FA helps administer, train and appoint officials operating at the highest levels of domestic football
  • The Registrations Department deals with the status and transfer of players including the registration of players’ contracts, international clearances and work permits, as well as disputes involving players’ registrations and eligibility
  • The FA appoints crowd control advisers to matches in the top leagues to assist clubs with dealing with crowd control issues and reporting any incidents to the Compliance Department. The advisers also help English clubs when travelling abroad to European club matches
  • The leagues department oversees the National League System, the pyramid of leagues from Football Conference National down to the many county-based leagues around the country. This role includes handling the ground-grading criteria that apply to clubs in the higher leagues of the System. It also administers the FA Women’s Premier League
  • National and regional leagues and competitions are approved and sanctioned by The FA - those played on a local level are sanctioned by the relevant County FA
  • The FA’s Doping Control programme involving the education and awareness of up to 20,000 9-21 year-olds attached to club academies or centres of excellence
  • More than 1,700 drug tests were conducted per year since 1999
  • The Child Protection policy now provides procedures for clubs to ensure children have a safe environment in which to play football, free from abuse or bullying. All FA courses include a Child Protection module
  • The FA has also introduced Criminal Records Bureau checks for adults involved in the game to enhance the safeguarding of children

Competitions

As well as the world’s greatest domestic cup competition, The FA Cup, The FA runs 11 competitions in addition to two Community Shield fixtures, which raise £1million per year for our charity partners and good causes around the country. The competitions are;

England Teams

The FA is responsible for no fewer than 24 England teams covering virtually every area and level of the game. They are;

The FA Charity Partners

In 2006 The Football Association initiated a structured approach to its charitable donations, the Programme drives funds into areas where it can directly play a beneficial role

  • Two Lead partners;
  • The FA also supports three other charity partners, which will be reviewed annually to give the Programme flexibility to work with a range of causes. The 2006 FA Charity Partners are;
    • The Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK raises money for research into bowel cancer
    • Sport Relief, an initiative of Comic Relief in association with BBC Sport, helps people in the UK living in disadvantaged and divided communities and helps children and young people around the world faced with poverty, abuse and exploitation
    • SOS Children’s Villages provides help for over 60,000 orphaned children in 124 countries

Communications

The FA is one of the highest-profile organisations in the country. Besides dealing with the media on a daily basis, the Communications Division is also responsible for media operations around the England teams and FA Cup Final, and for TheFA.com.

  • During the 2006 World Cup, conducted over 110 media events: press conferences, mixed zones, photo shoots, host broadcaster interviews
  • Up to 400 media per day at England media centre in Baden-Baden to cover training and press conferences
  • 290 media accredited for the Euro 2008 campaign
  • 280 media accredited for an average England game at Old Trafford
  • Nearly 2.5million visits/hits were made to TheFA.com during the World Cup
  • An average of 77,000 visits per day, compared to average of 50,000 per day ahead of World Cup
  • Over 200,000 accessed the Get Into Football section of the website, with over 20,000 requesting further information about getting involved