The Premier League, FA and Government’s Football Foundation has launched a new fund to provide women and girls with more welcoming and inclusive grassroots football facilities.
Building on England’s success as back-to-back UEFA Women’s EUROs winners, the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund will help ensure grassroots sports facilities across England are more welcoming, safe and accessible for women and girls.
The fund will provide clubs and organisations the chance to apply for grants of up to £25,000 for items to make their facilities more inclusive, including:
- Better lighting
- Clearer signage
- Sanitary bins
- Conversion of open showers to cubicle showers
- Private spaces for baby change and breastfeeding
- Officials’ changing spaces
- Changing room improvements
It forms part of the Football Foundation’s funding partners’ support for wider grassroots football, with thousands of pitches delivered and facilities improved through more than £1.2 billion in funding.
The Premier League helped to launch the Football Foundation 25 years ago, alongside The FA and Government. In that time, more than 15,000 pitches have been built or improved, and 88,000 teams now play at sites which have received funding.
The Lionesses HERe to Play Fund is designed to enable more women and girls to benefit from the continued investment.
'Longstanding commitment'
Clare Sumner, Premier League Chief Policy and Social Impact Officer, said: “The Premier League’s joint funding for the Football Foundation’s ongoing work, including to provide more safe and accessible facilities through the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund, forms part of our longstanding commitment to women’s and girls’ football.
“This spans grassroots level, professional pathways through funding for FA Emerging Talent Centres, supporting the FA Women’s National League, and the 100,000 girls engaged on our community programmes each season. Young women across the country have been inspired by the Lionesses’ recent success and, in supporting this initiative and others, we’re proud to play our part in helping to better enable access to football for women and girls.”
The Premier League’s commitment to removing barriers to football for women and girls extends across the pyramid, from grassroots to the professional game.
The Premier League Stadium Fund, administered by the Football Foundation, has enabled investment into sites used by 54 FA Women’s National League (FAWNL) teams, including Chorley Women. Between 2022 and 2025, FAWNL clubs also benefitted from £3 million in funding to support the competition’s strategy – with Women’s Super League (WSL) football in receipt of a £20 million loan, in addition to £10.5 million directed towards enhancing the WSL leagues and clubs.
Supporting the pathway into senior football, Premier League investment of £6.3 million supports The FA Girls’ Emerging Talent Centres across the country. Since the League first provided funding for the centres, the number of girls on the talent pathway has tripled to more than 6,000.
Off the pitch, League-funded community programmes delivered by 163 football club charities engage more than 100,000 girls each season – including 1,500 girls and young women who take part in Premier League Changemakers.
The initiative is a core part of the League’s work to support career pathways into football for women. The Premier League has invested £2.25 million via The FA to develop and diversify the future football workforce, with a focus on the women’s football workforce. It has supported more than 1,200 young people through leadership courses, training and mentoring to learn about and find volunteering and paid roles in football.
Premier League funding has also enabled full bursaries for women employed at clubs across the English football pyramid to enrol onto the Women in Football Leadership Course, and an expansion of the course itself.
The new Lionesses HERe to Play Fund further helps continue to remove barriers to the game for women and girls.
'Change across the country'
Millie Bright, England and Chelsea defender and Football Foundation Supporter, said: “It is incredible to see how the Lionesses’ success over the last few years has driven change across the country to support all those who have been inspired to play the game. We must ensure that the women and girls who are heading down to their local pitch have the best experience when they get there and welcoming and accessible facilities are at the heart of this.
“I know from my experience of playing grassroots as a kid that football gave me a greater sense of confidence, helped me make friends and get active. I want players to keep returning to their local facility. Thanks to the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund things such as better lighting to help women and girls feel safe; the conversion of open showers to ones in cubicles; and the provision of sanitary bins, will ensure all women and girls feel like they belong to grassroots clubs. Importantly I hope that it will ensure they want to return again and again.”
Robert Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “25 years ago, a unique partnership between the Premier League, The FA and Government created the Football Foundation to ensure every community has a great place to play.
“In recent years we’ve seen the women’s and girls’ game going from strength to strength, particularly following the Lionesses' inspiring victories. Last season, over 12,500 women’s and girls’ grassroots football teams were playing on sites that’ve benefitted from the funding we’ve delivered to help meet this growing demand.
“The Lionesses HERe to Play Fund will enable even more women and girls to get down to their local pitch, whether they dream of following in their heroes’ footsteps or just want to enjoy the game with their friends.”
To find out more about The Lionesses HERe to Play Fund, visit the Foundation’s website: https://footballfoundation.org.uk/grant/lionesses-here-to-play-fund