IFA: Multi-Sports Grassroots Facilities Investment Fund
Overview
In March 2025 the UK Government announced it is to invest a further £100m in the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, including £3m earmarked for facility improvements in Northern Ireland via the Irish FA/DCMS fund.
The new tranche of funding for 2025-26 follows on from a £123 million investment in 2024-25 to support projects across the whole of the UK.
The Irish FA/DCMS Fund aims to enable grassroots football clubs, local authorities, schools and football-focused sports community/charitable organisations in Northern Ireland to improve and refurbish facilities so that grassroots football clubs and communities have a high quality pitch to play on, thereby helping to create a better grassroots football infrastructure foundation.
Funding will be directed towards large capital projects primarily focusing on the installation of quality natural grass pitches, certified artificial grass pitches (AGPs) or Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAs). All projects must have a pitch proposal at its core and associated infrastructure will be considered as part of the overall proposal.
Objectives
The main objectives of the Irish FA/DCMS Grassroots Facilities Investment Fund are:
- Improves the capital infrastructure to support the delivery of grassroots football activities across Northern Ireland;
- Delivers a sustained increase in participation in sport and physical activity across Northern Ireland, improving the mental and physical health of participants;
- Increases the number of multi-sport facilities in Northern Ireland to deliver a sustained increase in participation in non-football sports;
- Reduces the postcode lottery for quality facilities by directing investment to disadvantaged or areas of deprivation and delivers a sustained increase in participation and physical inactivity in these areas;
- Delivers improved access to sport facilities for women and girls to deliver a sustained increase in participation;
- Delivers improved access for under-represented groups to deliver a sustained increase in participation;
- Delivers ‘value for money’ investment in facilities by securing partner match funding.
Successful projects must be completed by 31 March 2026. Failure to complete by 31 March 2026 may result in the withdrawal of any award.
Who can apply
Applications are invited from the following organisations:
- Football clubs based in Northern Ireland that are affiliated to the Irish FA and participates in Northern Ireland leagues, including NIFL clubs and their associated entities¹
- Local Authorities based in Northern Ireland
- Association Football-focused Sports Community Organisations based in Northern Ireland
- Association Football-focused Charitable Organisations, that are registered with the Charities Commission for Northern Ireland
- Schools/ Colleges/ Universities based in Northern Ireland
Proposals from affiliated football clubs must demonstrate that they are engaged in community partnerships and the wider local community and have significant grassroots football activities. Football Clubs must also demonstrate that the facilities will be open, available for booking and accessible to sports clubs, leagues, local community and sports organisations during core training times including evening and weekend periods. The funding must be used for investment in capital assets that support grassroots or community sport in Northern Ireland. Proposed usage plans for the facility must be provided as well as projected facility hire charges – charges should be reflective of current local/ regional market costs and demonstrate value for money. Refer to Annex 1 for illustrative template usage plan and proposed hourly charges.
Both completed templates must be submitted with the application form.