The Northern Ireland Football Fund Performance Programme

Overview

The Northern Ireland Football Fund (TNIFF) Performance Programme marks the start of a £36.2 million footballing facilities improvement programme across Northern Ireland. 

The Northern Ireland Football Fund will invest in three areas: 

• Performance Programme 
• Grassroots Facilities Programme 
• National Football Centre

Local performance clubs are invited to submit proposals to modernise their grounds and transform the game for players, fans and local communities.

• Performance Clubs are defined as all current football clubs which are members of the Northern Ireland Football League or League of Ireland who play their home matches at a venue located in Northern Ireland. 41 clubs, including 47 different teams, playing on 36 separate grounds meet this definition.
• The Performance Programme is the first of three strands within The Northern Ireland Football Fund (TNIFF). The other two strands – for Grassroots Facilities and a National Football Centre will be announced later.

All applicants to the Performance Programme will be required to provide partnership funding for their projects, for clubs that will be at least 5% of the total project cost, and councils will be required to fund at least 40% of total costs.

Performance Programme – Tiers

 It is expected that individual project values are likely to vary in value from under £1.5million to over £20million. A tiered approach has been adopted whereby similar sized projects are scored against each other. Within this programme there will be three funding Tiers: 

• Projects with a total cost up to £1.5million 
• Projects with a total cost above £1.5million and up to £6million 
• Projects with a total cost above £6million

Desired outcomes

The TNIFF Performance Programme aims to deliver the following outcomes:

Football

• Football: fit for purpose facilities which meet modern safety and footballing requirements.
• Modern: modern grounds which meet user expectations.

Community

• Impactful: Impactful community, environmental and economic benefits.
• Inclusive: Highest standard of inclusion and disability provision.

Finance

• Sustainable: Financially sustainable and future proofed clubs

Who can apply

This Programme is open to applications from Performance Clubs or the Owner of a football ground in association with a Performance Club. For the purposes of the Performance Programme an Owner of a football ground means the organisation that holds either (1) a freehold interest or (2) a lease that will expire no earlier than 1 January 2051.

Applications to the Performance Programme must be made by:

• a Performance Club who is the Owner of the football ground to which the application relates,

OR

• a Performance Club who intends to become the Owner of the football ground to which the application relates prior to the issue of the Funding Agreement for Construction Costs, 

OR

• an Owner of the football ground to which the application relates and on which a Performance Club plays its home matches.

A legal charge /or (in the case of an Applicant who is a council) a Deed of Dedication in favour of the Department will be required over the football ground together with any other security documents that the Department considers appropriate to secure any funding.

What can they fund

Only items that are within each football ground’s boundary will be considered eligible for funding. 

Eligible items include spend in relation to ingress circulation and egress, main playing pitch, main playing pitch - side, main playing pitch - lighting, stands, club facilities, officials’ facilities, players facilities, spectator toilets, media area, safety features, medical facilities, disability facilities, energy efficiency investment, non-football related accommodation (where this is linked to income generation). This list is not exhaustive. 

Eligible items are listed in Appendix 1 of Guidance Notes.