As the year 2020 gets underway, we have a range of exciting events and campaigns lined up for the second half of the 2019-2020 season and beyond.
Here are five important dates to save in your calendar:
1. HEADS UP
Our Heads Up campaign, together with Royal-backed charity Heads Together, aims to use the influence and popularity of football to highlight the importance of mental fitness.
January's third-round matches of the Emirates FA Cup all kicked off one-minute late to encourage fans to consider their mental health.
And on Friday 27 March we will stage our Heads Up International, as England host Italy at Wembley Stadium.
The fixture will be the first of four friendlies to help the Three Lions prepare for this summer’s UEFA Euro 2020.
The Emirates FA Cup Final on Saturday 23 May will also have a Heads Up theme.
2. THE FA FIVES
THE FA Fives is an inclusive football festival aimed at increasing engagement around UEFA EURO 2020.
England’s biggest five-aside football tournament will build on the success of The FA People’s Cup and is free-to-enter over three rounds.
It will involve around 5000 teams and 35,000 players across 15 different categories, including adult male and female, veterans and disability.
You can sign up from Friday 4 March, exactly 100 days before UEFA EURO 2020 begins. Round one consists of over 100 events nationwide and will take place on 2-3 May.
The regional finals will be staged at five locations across England between 20-21 May. And the national finals we will be in London on 12-14 June.
You can find more information about THE FA FIVES here.
3. THE FA DISABILITY CUP
Our fifth FA Disability Cup takes place at St George’s Park on 25 and 26 July.
It's the largest competition of its kind in England and ensures players within impairment-specific football have a national FA competition to call their own, complete with dreams of reaching St. George’s Park for finals weekend.
Merseyside will return to defend their Blind Cup title, whilst Everton Amputees will also be back in a highly competitive category that sees 2019 beaten finalists Portsmouth and two-time champions Peterborough vying for victory.
4. THE FA & MCDONALD’S GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL AWARDS
The 2020 FA and McDonald’s Grassroots Football Awards recognises people who make a positive difference and put their heart and soul into the grassroots game.
Nominations will be open in March and April before County FAs will then select their local winners in May. These will be put to our national judging panel before the winners are chosen.
Our National Winners’ Ceremony takes place during the FA Community Shield at Wembley Stadium in early August when the winners of the 2020 Emirates FA Cup face off against the Premier League champions in what is English football's annual curtain raiser for the new season.
Anyone can make a nomination, but individuals must be nominated by someone else. They can, however, nominate their own team or league.
5. UEFA WOMEN’S EURO 2021
UEFA Women's EURO 2021 comes to England between 11 July-1 August 2021 and the registration and process for ticket sales and volunteering at the competition will open later in 2020.
The competition will see 16 teams, including Phil Neville’s Lionesses, battle it out across nine venues in eight host cities in England.
The Lionesses qualify automatically as hosts, but the other 15 countries will be decided by Saturday 20 October.
We expect the build up to, and excitement around, UEFA Women's EURO 2021 to help our Gameplan For Growth strategy.
This aims to double to number the number of registered female grassroots teams from 6000 to 12,000 by the end of this year and increase attendances at both Lionesses and WSL games.
Halfway through the 2019-20 FA WSL season, the average attendance is already 3720, well above our stated target of 2020, so we believe we are on track to delivering our strategy.
