Last year was an incredible 12 months for the Premier League Foundation and the football club charities across England and Wales that we support, thanks to substantial investment from the Premier League.
And as we begin another year of delivery, we are taking a moment to reflect on the people and moments that made it a special 2025 through various programmes and funds.
Premier League Inspires
Engaging with students in secondary schools and pupil referral units who are at risk of disengaging with education, Premier League Inspires has worked with more than 40,000 participants since it began in 2019.
And as the programme began its sixth year of delivery in 2025, some of those young people kicked off the year by attending a landmark event at the National Football Museum.
Together with their counterparts from Premier League Kicks, the Premier League Changemakers female leadership event involved young people joining former Tottenham Hotspur Women's player Chloe Morgan and former referee Rebecca Welch as they added changemaking shirts to the National Football Museum's iconic Football Heritage Collection.
The 2025 cohort of Premier League Changemakers then travelled to Wolverhampton Wanderers' first-team training ground later in the year to find out more about possible opportunities in football at an event hosted by Amber Sandhu and Sakinaah Boateng.
"Being a Premier League Changemaker means I have opportunities that a lot of girls wouldn't have. I feel very lucky," said Millie, a Premier League Changemaker from Southampton. "I've gone to the stadium, been on tours, met new players and been inspired. Going to events like this allows me to see different people and learn how they went from doing one thing to something completely different. It's inspired me to work a lot harder.
"Being here today opens up a lot of opportunities for lots of different girls that wouldn't have it."
One of the standout moment in the Premier League Inspires calendar is the Premier League Inspires Challenge, where teams of participants are tasked with coming up with ideas and plans for a social action project that is then delivered by their local football club charities.
The 2025 Challenge focused on projects addressing gender equality and the teams had a day to remember in May when they attended a special celebration event at Wembley Stadium attended by former England footballer Izzy Christiansen.
"If this is a small sample of what's going on around the country, then it's pretty exciting," she said. "The participants involved in this programme are not in a privileged situation. They're here because they're trying to better themselves and the clubs are giving them the opportunity to do that."
Over the summer, Premier League Inspires participants were a key part of three Premier League Disability Football Festivals hosted by Everton, Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion.
Two Premier League Inspires participants, Jack from Leeds United and Aahil from Huddersfield Town, have found confidence and support through the programme and are determined to show that disability is no barrier to playing the sport they love.
"I'm so grateful that I have had the chance to come to a disability football festival," Jack said. "I love representing my home town. It's given me an opportunity that I didn't have before. Being here is like I am being noticed. People aren't judging me. I have a chance to express myself and show off my skills. Honestly, that means a lot. I'm just really happy. It's like a dream come true."
As schools opened their doors for the start of the new school year in September, we announced an increased commitment from the Premier League to our education programmes - including Premier League Inspires - which supports our partnership with government on the Youth Guarantee Initiative and aims to help young people into education or employment.
This increased commitment has enabled the expansion of the Premier League Inspires offer to young people, with 54 professional football charities now involved in programme delivery.
Alongside this announcement, we also published research conducted by Sheffield Hallam University which highlighted the impact of Premier League Inspires.
The research shows that 92 per cent of schools believe that it helps to improve pupils' behaviour, while 96 per cent state that the programme increases pupils' engagement in lessons.
That impact was witnessed by Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson MP, who visited Sandhill View Academy in Sunderland to see Premier League Inspires sessions delivered by the Foundation of Light, the official club charity of Sunderland AFC.
During her visit Phillipson met Amelia, a student who had difficulties engaging with school but is now enjoying her learning again with the help of a Foundation of Light mentor.
As part of this back to school activity, we were also able to shine a light on the story of Aabid from Burnley, showing how the programme helps young people to rediscover a love of education.
And it was a memorable end of the year for a group of Premier League Inspires students from Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, who explained how the programme has helped hem at the Premier League Foundation's 15-year celebrations in Westminster.
The team, from the Green School for Boys, were one of the teams taking part in last year's Premier League Inspires Challenge and their idea involved providing workshops to help young people with public speaking so they can find their voice and their confidence when talking about subjects close to their heart.
"I've learned to be disciplined in the way I communicate and that has helped with my discipline at school," said team member Kian. "Confidence goes hand in hand with my maturity. My lack of confidence made me want to act out. I felt if I didn't act a certain way, I would stray from a group, but the confidence to do good things has led me to be with good people."