FAI to invest additional €1.5m in grassroots football

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is to inject an extra €1.5m into grassroots football in 2022, in addition to the €2m in Covid-19 resilience funding from Government.

The board of the FAI has approved the €1.5m boost for adult amateur and underage football as the game continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

The Government has already awarded €2m in Covid-19 relief funding which will see €1.9m go directly to clubs and €100k to affiliates via an application process agreed with Sport Ireland.

The additional €1.5m is set to be invested in campaigns and initiatives across the sector aimed at increasing awareness and education around volunteering, child welfare, refereeing, Football For All and women in football.

FAI CEO Jonathan Hill said: "The board have backed our strategy by agreeing to invest an extra €1.5m directly into the grassroots game having listened closely to our stakeholders during the consultation period of the strategy.

"The pandemic has presented many key challenges to our clubs and affiliates and we are working together now to address those issues. This new funding will be a major boost for those stakeholders."