FOLLOWING recent guidance issued by the FA for the restarting of football activity, eligible clubs and organisations will now be able to apply to the Club Preparation Fund for a fixed £500 grant to make the necessary changes and modifications to allow them to reopen.

Those that can apply are:

  • Clubs and organisations that manage their own building and have a minimum 12 months security of tenure
  • Grassroots football clubs (including Step 7)
  • FA National League System clubs (from Steps 1 to 6)
  • FA Women’s Pyramid clubs (Tier 1-5)
  • County FAs
  • Professional Club Community Trusts
  • Leisure Trusts (with an annual turnover of less than £500k)
  • Welsh Cymru Premier League clubs

Successful applicants will need to spend Club Preparation funding on the three key areas:

  • Keeping your clubhouse and equipment clean
  • Maintaining social distancing and avoiding congestion
  • Promoting good hygiene.

The type of work that this may include would be to provide:

  • hand sanitiser dispensers
  • waste bins
  • paper towel dispensers
  • signage and floor marking
  • building repairs and modifications
  • carrying professional inspections or testing on water quality or gas and electric
  • repairing hand basins and providing hot water
  • installing safety screening and contactless payment systems