Football & Stadium Management (FSM) is a print magazine and digital news resource for those involved with sports stadia, facilities, pitch and turf care.

£40m for state-of-the-art football pitches in hard-hit communities

• Deprived communities in England to benefit from new football facilities thanks to £40m of additional funding expected to be announced in the Budget.
• Saints fan Rishi Sunak is expected to announce £8m new funding, which will be matched by the Premier League, FA and local government among others.
• The new money is expected to attract more than a quarter of a million new players.

Aspiring footballers will have something to cheer about at the Budget as the Chancellor is expected to announce a £40m boost for better pitches and state-of-the-art facilities.

In a move to help bring the beautiful game to even more people, Southampton fan Rishi Sunak will help level-up some of England’s most deprived communities by committing more money to build and upgrade football facilities across the country.

As part of a joint project between the government, local football leagues, the Premier League, the FA, and the Football Foundation, the government has pledged £8m. The new funding will be matched by each organisation, resulting in more than £40m going towards state-of-the-art facilities.

The Parklife Project has already received £40m of government funding to improve football facilities in communities across England since 2015.

In 2017, 250,000 more people played football at pitches built by the Parklife Project, a third of whom were women. This new round of funding is expected to attract a similar number of new players.