TEST FY26 Marcomms - v1

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS FY26 ROUND UP

INTRODUCTION

In FY26, we brought our investment and its impact to life and rounded out the final year of our strategy with an array of openings and campaigns.

Our key marketing and communications objectives remained the same:

• Grow attribution - increase recognition of funding partner investment and the impact it makes, particularly amongst Local Authorities and MPs.

• Unlock partnerships - ensure Combined Authorities, Local Authorities, educational establishments and sites understand the benefits of investing in facilities to unlock partnership funding opportunities and support applicants to overcome planning barriers.

• Support the Grassroots Football community - increase awareness of all funding opportunities available. And when applicants do apply, ensure every engagement with the Foundation is as easy as possible by providing guidance throughout the pre-application, application and post-award process.

• Secure next tranche of additional government funding ahead of DCMS funding announcement for the Football Foundation - increase engagement with MPs and Government, to showcase funding delivered in constituencies across the country.

• Celebrated the Football Foundation 25th anniversary with a season-long campaign. Highlights included Football Foundation takeovers at the Community Shield and England v Serbia men’s match, adverts in matchday programmes, 25 impact stories series, LFFP refresh launch, campaign film featuring Ian Wright and an event at No 10.​

• Funding partner CEOs came together at Burgess Park for a media and content capture event to launch our new strategy and refreshed Local Football Facility Plans.

• Unveiled The Lucy Bronze Pavilion and The Mary Earps Lioness pitch both generating national and regional media coverage. Opened the Silksworth PlayZone in Sunderland with EA SPORTS and Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips.

• Launched the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund, which saw us feature in TheSundayTimesand collaborate with our funding partners, Lucy Bronze and Supporter Millie Bright on social posts.

• Created Groundskeeping Corner, a Facebook Group for grassroots groundskeepers, with over 1,000 members.

• Continued to work with our Supporters to reach wider audiences throughout relevant campaigns.

• Hosted a Grassroots Football Drop-in Session alongside our funding partners and Lucy Bronze at Parliament, where we launched our new Constituency Investment Summaries. Attended by more than 60 MPs.

• Collected content at both the England Women’s and Men’s camps for our 25th anniversary campaign and Lionesses Futures Fund activity.

• Nominated for Organisation of the Year at the Sport Industry Awards and the Football Business Awards.

• Announced our funding towards the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship with the University of Greenwich.

• Hit a media reach of over 2.3bn billion (a 50% increase on last year), providing attribution to our partners across national, local and regional broadcast, online and print outlets.

• Achieved a reach of over 13.5 million people across our social channels, and collaborated with all our funding partners’ accounts, as well as Mary Earps, Ian Wright, Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright.

2.13bn 13.5m 8.4m

Media reach (+50% YoY)

Reach across our social media channels (+101% YoY)

Website impressions (+596% YoY)

WORKING WITH OUR FUNDING PARTNERS

Leveraging our 25th anniversary as a central hook, we worked handin-hand with our funding partners to amplify our message.

Building on last year’s successes, this collaboration, helped grow our reach and ensuring that every partner received stronger, more measurable attribution. Here are some highlights:

• Branding activations at the Community Shield and England v Serbia Men’s match, County FA awards and Grassroots Volunteer awards.

• Funding partner CEOs came together to participate in our Burgess Park media event.

• Premier League talent and trophy at site openings.

• Filmed at England Men’s and Women’s camps.

• Campaign adverts featured on The FA Matchday App, as well as within England and Community Shield programmes.

• Collab on Lionesses Here to Play Fund reached over 1 million people.

• Football Foundation was featured throughout the Premier League More Than a Game campaign.

• Welcomed representatives at our MP drop-in sessions and milestone opening events.

• County FAs supporting our campaigns and sharing impact stats.

• Worked closely with The FA to distribute Attribution and Awareness Survey and gain insight on response rates.

• We completed our fifth year of research to measure the awareness of the Foundation, our Funding Partners, and the understanding of our ambition. Consistent with previous years, the research was split into two; a survey of grassroots football community audience, and Local Authority CEOs, Directors, Councillors and MPs.

• This year we moved away from our previous combined score KPI and split out the scores separately for awareness and attribution. Our average score for awareness across both audiences was 76% (-16% YoY) and for attribution it was 63% (-YoY).

• The drop in awareness whilst on the face of it, disappointing to see, should be viewed within the context that 76% is still a strong score, as well as this year’s broader survey reach and considerable response rate growth.

• The FA (who send the grassroots survey on our behalf) sent the survey to 12% more people than in 2024, and have implemented a new CRM system and carried out significant data cleansing work. They’ve also been working on more personalised communications and engaging a new audience of grassroots volunteers. We believe that this refreshed and broader audience has triggered increased survey participation and engagement (+124% respondents YoY for grassroots, +155% respondents YoY for MP and LAs). This has influenced the decline in awareness but has provided us with a new and accurate benchmark to move forward with.

CAMPAIGNS

25TH ANNIVERSARY - WHAT WE DID TO CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF OUR IMPACT

• Community Shield and The FA Grassroots Awards: Branding presence across LED boards, matchday programmes, the tunnel, player mixed zone and on the big screen.

• England vs Serbia men’s game: Secured branding again on LED boards and programmes. Our film featuring the England team was showcased on the big screen, while two mascots represented Football-funded sites. Media coverage included mentions from The Telegraph, BBC, and MSN.com who have a combined audience of over 38 million.

• Strategy launch: In October, funding partner CEOs came together at Burgess Park to launch our new strategy and refreshed Local Football Facility Plans. We were joined by Anton Ferdinand and Fara Williams – who grew up playing at the site. This story reached over 3.5 million people across various channels and outlets including LBCNews, AOL.com, Sky News and Global Radio (including Smooth Radio and Capital Radio), and regional outlets.

• MP drop-in session: Hosted a Grassroots Football Drop-in Session alongside our funding partners and Lucy Bronze at Parliament, where we launched our new Constituency Investment Summaries.

• Number 10 event: In March, Downing Street hosted us at a reception to celebrate grassroots sport and our incredible impact across England.

• First pitches pictures series: A photo series featuring England internationals at their grassroots club to highlight the impact of our funding at their grassroot club. We featured stars including Lucy Bronze and Jordan Pickford, featuring in regional publications including the Sunderland Echo, Shields Gazette and Northumberland Gazette. These stories reached over 20k people in the areas local to the pitches.

• 25 impact stories series: Showcasing our funding impact with a different site from each year since 2000. To date, the series has reached 30k people so far and we’ve still got 14 impact stories still to share.

• Campaign film voiced by Ian Wright: All funding partners supported the post with an Instagram Collab, amplifying reach to over 600k people and securing over 5.28k likes.

• Other branding opportunities: Continuous visibility via advert placements in matchday programmes across the pyramid.

• It was another busy year for our HERe to Play campaign supporting women and girls. As the Lionesses roared to EUROs victory once more, we supported and celebrated them along the way across our channels with 13 content pieces across the tournament, reaching 40k people. We’ve committed to naming a further seven facilities after players that were members of the squad.

• In October, we launched a brand-new fund - The Lionesses HERe to Play Fund. The new fund provides grants of up to £25k towards delivering welcoming, safe and accessible facilities for women and girls for grassroots clubs and organisations across the country.

• The Fund had a multichannel launch as we emailed grassroots clubs, shared assets with County FAs so they could promote the Fund and posted various pieces of content on our social. We created an Instagram collab with the Premier League, England Football and the Lionesses for the launch post, which received over 1m views.

• A press release was shared with national and trade media. The Sunday Times’ Chief Football Correspondent Jonathan Northcroft visited The Leah Williamson Pitch to see the impact of Football Foundation funding that supports the women’s and girls’ game first hand, profiling the fund in his article. This article reached a readership of 647,622.

THE LUCY BRONZE CHANGING PAVILION

• The Lucy Bronze Changing Pavilion at Alnwick Town Juniors FC was unveiled thanks to a grant of £3.4k that helped cover repairs to the severe damage sustained in the 2022 storms.

• The event was attended by Lucy, young players and members of the local community.

• Our content reached over 200k people and Lucy Bronze posted on her own social media channels to an audience of 905k.

• The event also received coverage in local media outlets, such as The Northumberland Gazette.

LUCY BRONZE CHANGING PAVILION EVENT

THE MARY EARPS PITCH OPENING

• The Mary Earps Pitch at Calverton Miners Welfare FC opening thanks to a £660k grant from the Football Foundation via The Lionesses Futures Fund. The Club now boasts a state-of-the-art 3G pitch as well as a newly refurbished small-sided pitch and changing pavilion.

• We were joined by our colleagues from the Premier League, The FA, DCMS and Sport England, as well as the Premier League and Women’s EURO trophies, for the ribbon cutting and a speech from Mary on what it means to have a pitch named after her.

• ITV Central and BBC Nottingham covered the event, and The FA profiled the pitch in the programme of the Lionesses match against Iceland in Nottingham.

• Mary was interviewed in the The Guardian and The Telegraph.

• Our Instagram post in collaboration with Mary, the Lionesses, England Football and DCMS has reached over 9k likes.

• Content creator StillRyan attended the event with the Premier League to capture footage.

GET YOUR PITCH MATCH FIT

• We continue to share grass pitch maintenance tips across our channels and promote the use of PitchPower to unlock Grass Pitch Maintenance Funding. In February the 15,000th Football Report in PitchPower was completed.

• We moved from our previous Online Groundskeeping Community on The Hive to a new dedicated space for Groundskeepers on Facebook in August, called Groundskeeping Corner. The group has been very well received with over 1,100 members, almost 400 member posts and over 1,400 comments in the group.

• We’ve seen over 1500% increase in engagement on this platform than we were seeing on the previous Online Groundskeeping Community on The Hive. Our targeted paid social media campaign expanded our reach among groundskeepers, drove greater awareness and uptake of the group’s benefits.

LET’S GO 2026

Kicked off 2026 highlighting all the support we offer for sports clubs and organisations across the country and ease of applying for funding.

What we did:

• Shined a spotlight on our Let’s Go campaign film to showcase our grants and programmes.

• Targeted underrepresented groups with a successful paid social campaign, which saw over a million impressions and over 355k reach.

THE FUTURE OF 3G PITCHES

• Whilst continuing to share 3G maintenance tips on digital channels, this year our Future of 3G Pitches campaign has focused on preparation, building resources and supporting stakeholders with messaging.

• A refresh on the Future of 3G Pitches webpages reflected changes in language and updated the findings of DEFRA's report into intentionally added microplastics.

• We've been working on briefs for potential behaviour change campaigns with Sport England, advising internal teams on enquiries received from councils, grant applicants and members of the community, and supporting funding partners with enquiries involving infill and 3G pitches.

MILESTONE EVENTS

THE STEPHEN LAWRENCE SCHOLARSHIP

• In June, we officially launched the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship in partnership with Greenwich University. The launch took place at Charlton Athletic FC’s Training Ground and was attended by Baroness Lawrence, Charlton FC Vice Chair Paul Elliot CBE and representatives of Greenwich University.

• Honouring Stephen’s legacy and his passion for football and architecture, this initiative prioritises Black students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and those who are estranged or care experienced, to complete the Architecture Part 2 March course over two years, starting September 2025.

• The recipient has the opportunity to work with the Foundation team, attend all-team events, and gain experience of the grassroots football facility landscape.

• The launch was covered by the BBC and several trade outlets, including FC Business. This coverage achieved a total reach of over 50 million.

• We’ve since received an impact report that showed the recipient is making brilliant progress within their course.

“Thisscholarshiphasenabledmetofocussolelyonmystudies, alleviatedfinancialpressuresformyfamily,andpresentedmewith careerandacademicavenuesIneverwouldhavethoughtwere possible,affirmingmydesiretogivebacktomycommunitythrough architecture.” - Scholarshiprecipient

DERBY RACECOURSE HUB CELEBRATION

• In September we cut the ribbon on the new Derby Racecourse Hub, a project delivered thanks to a £6 million grant from the Football Foundation.

• The event celebrating the impact of the facilities on the local community also provided a brilliant opportunity for our Board and Senior Management Team to visit the recipient of one of our largest ever grants. Our Grants Panel also met at the Hub prior to the event.

SILKSWORTH PLAYZONE X EA SPORTS OPENING

• In October we opened our second Football Foundation PlayZone funded in partnership with EA SPORTS, in Silksworth Park in Sunderland. Representatives from the Premier League, DCMS, EA Sports and the local County FA as well as Sunderland AFC legend Kevin Philips were all in attendance.

• BBC local news attended the opening and captured interviews with Kevin Philips and spokespeople. Local print and online media including Yorkshire Times, Cumbria Times and North East Post covered the story. It was also the lead feature on Sunderland AFC’s website.

• We collaborated with EA SPORTS on the film from the event on our Instagram channel, extending our exposure to their audience of 578k people.

DIGITAL RESULTS

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION SOCIAL MEDIA

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION SOCIAL MEDIA RESULTS

13.5m 300k+ 5.3k+

Reach across our social media channels (+101% YoY)

Engagements on our content (likes, reposts and comments)

New fans and followers across all accounts

We reached over 13.5m people on our social channels, more than doubling our reach on social media. This success was made possible by increasing the number of collaboration posts with the accounts of our funding partners and supporters and influential figures including Ian Wright, Mary Earps, Anton Ferdinand, Millie Bright and Karl Standley.

We’ve also supported funding partners’ and wider stakeholders’ posts by engaging with their content, from the Premier League’s More Than A Game campaign and The FA’s coverage of the Lionesses EURO 2025 victory to The GMA’s GroundsWeek.

8.4m 840k+ 336k

Website impressions (+596% YoY)

Page views on our website

Unique users to our website

FY26 saw exceptional digital growth, building on the redesign of our website in FY25. Continued improvements in search optimisation has significantly expanded our reach through organic discovery, ensuring we are connecting with more people.

Impressions is the total number of times this content was seen.

• This year we refreshed our careers webpage on our website, to complement the new recruitment platform used by our HR team, help create a smoother journey for potential applicants and attract a more diverse workforce.

• As part of this we produced an animated film to demonstrate what it’s like to work at the Football Foundation.

MEDIA RESULTS

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION MEDIA REACH

2.13bn 2,277 387 99%

Media reach

(+50% YoY)

Media articles (62% YoY)

Increase due to significant national coverage of Football Foundation’s 25th anniversary media reach, The Mary Earps Pitch and announcement of FY27 funding.

Higher concentration of coverage came from national outlets due to aforementioned campaigns.

Pieces of broadcast coverage (FY25 was 9% broadcast and FY26 16%)

Substantial proportion of coverage continues to come from local radio stations reporting on grassroots and non-league clubs we’ve supported

Positive sentiment (equal to last year)

Coverage continued to be overwhelmingly positive. The negative sentiment was as a result of local discussion on the perceived environmental or health risks of 3G pitch infill)

NATIONAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Ian Dennis, England v Serbia commentary:

“Thetwomascotsfortonight’squalifier arewinningnominationsfromFootball Foundationcompetition…”

“As they've marked this game for 25 years of investment ever since they were set up back in 2000 from the Premier League, the FA, and the Government, and they've invested something to the tune of £1.3 billion in those 25 years.”

REGIONAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

UNLOCKING PARTNERSHIPS

• Hosted 57 site visits across England to show MPs the impact of our investment and gain their support with delivering further projects. This activity included:

• Hosted several members of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee including Damian Hinds MP and Sarah Owen MP, at sites in their constituencies.

• Hosted members of the Women’s Football APPG at sites in their constituencies .

• Hosted Sports Minister, Stephanie Peacock MP, and local MP, Keir Mather at a future Lionesses Future Fund project in Derby.

• Hosted Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Stuart Andrew MP and Louis French MP, Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport.

• Attended a Shadow DCMS Roundtable on Grassroots Sport.

GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL DROP-IN SESSION

• Held a Football Foundation 25th Anniversary drop-in session, where 44 MPs and two Lords had the opportunity to speak to their Delivery Manager and learn about the Foundation’s past and future investment in their constituencies. This was the first time MPs were shown their refreshed Local Football Facility Plans.

• Invited representatives of Foundation-funded sites to the second drop-in session, so that MPs could learn about the impact of our investment first-hand.

• Sent personalised letters to every MP who attended or signed up to these events, inviting them to visit a Foundation-funded facility in their constituency.

SNAPSHOT OF MP ENGAGEMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

SUPPORTERS

SUPPORTER ACTIVITY

• Secured Ian Wright to voice the Football Foundation's 25th Anniversary Hero film providing a passionate and instantly recognisable voice to share our impact across our digital channels.

• Millie Bright offered support across the year by engaging with digital posts celebrating the Football Foundation's 25th Anniversary and her support was called out in an interview she had with The Guardian.

• Karl Standley Head of Grounds and Surface Transitions at Wembley Stadium supported the Foundation throughout the year

– with the support of Groundskeeping Corner, a grassroots roadshow and providing a voice for our Support and Impact Grass Pitch films.

• Extended our work with the grounds team at Wembley by capturing 11 Questions content with Liddy and Cameron.

• John Ledwidge, Head of Grounds at Manchester City FC supported our 25th Anniversary campaign with his first pitch pictures.

• Attended Men's and Women's England camps to capture content with players in order to amplify campaigns throughout the year.

• Worked with Premier League to secure talent support throughout campaigns including Alan Shearer, Fara Williams and Anton Ferdinand.

• Hot on the heels of the official opening of The Lucy Bronze Pavillion she joined us at the Grassroots Drop –in at Parliament to meet and talk with MPs.

LOOKING AHEAD TO FY27

We’re looking to build on the successes of FY26 and continue driving attribution to funding partners, unlocking partnerships, supporting the grassroots football community and securing the next tranche of additional government funding.

Here’s what we’ll be up to:

• Continue our 25th anniversary celebrations.

• Launch the next phase in the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund.

• Continue optimising our impact and support approach with more applicant comms and guidance to ensure our investments are sustainable long term.

• Continue working with Sport England on the Future of 3G pitches campaign and monitor comms around testing alternative pitch systems.

• Continue engaging with MPs and the Government to demonstrate the impact of our funding partner investment on local communities.

• Raise awareness of new sites and the impact or funding is having across England.

• Continue working with funding partners on collecting content at player media days to support us with our digital strategy.

We look forward to continuing to work with funding partner Public Affairs, Marketing and Communications teams to increase the awareness and understanding of their investment into the Foundation and the impact of its work.

Registered charity number 1079309 footballfoundation.org.uk