Grassroots Football Survey

Setting up a club


DO YOU WANT TO SET-UP AND ESTABLISH A NEW FOOTBALL OR FUTSAL CLUB?


The Amateur FA welcomes hearing from individuals who are looking to start up a new football or futsal club. To have the best opportunity of setting yourselves up correctly, we advise you to follow the pathway below:

Get in Touch

Visit our HELPDESK to find answers to our frequently answered questions, including safeguarding contact details.

If your query cannot be answered, please submit a ticket.

You can also visit the FA Grassroots Technology Forum for help with FA IT systems.

The Amateur FA will only affiliate clubs either in London or the Home Counties. If you are based outside of this area, please contact your local geographical County FA, which are listed here.

The Amateur FA will only affiliate clubs that are made up solely of adult teams. If your club is to have junior teams within it, please contact your local geographical County FA, which are listed here.

Make sure you recruit enough players to cater for those times when people are injured, ill, away or suspended. You need to be in a position where you never request a fixture postponement due to lack of players. Suggestions on player recruitment can be found here.

Every club must have a Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. All the roles can be filled by one individual, but sharing the workload is advisable. Details on club roles are found here.

Each team in your club will require a home and away playing strip, plus equipment to function. The Amateur FA have a partnership with Discount Football Kits to support this. Do note, that clubs should not have predominantly black playing shirts as this colour is attributed to match officials within FA Regulations.

If the league does not allocate pitches or run out of a central venue, you will need a place to call ‘home’. We advise using Pitch Finder to find options near to you, as well speaking to your local authority, parish, and private landowners, such as schools. 

You can learn about leagues sanctioned by the Amateur FA here. Do note, you can still affiliate with the Amateur FA and play in a league sanctioned by another County FA. If you need assistance in finding a suitable league for your needs, please get in contact with us.

Operating a club does come with financial outlay, particularly at the beginning, with kit, equipment, affiliation and registration fees to cover. Clubs should put together a budget to understand their income and expenditure across the season. Our Grants and Funding page may assist with additional income sources.

If you are comfortable in having prepared all the above, then it is time to get yourselves affiliated with the Amateur FA. Please send in your application via the form below and we will be in contact in due course.

complete the new club form here


Once you have been contacted by a member of the team informing you that your application has been approved, you need to consider the following:

Once we have set your club on the Whole Game System, you will have to complete the affiliation process, which is when you can purchase Public Liability and Personal Accident Insurance if you do not already possess them. Details on the affiliation process are here.

All teams affiliated with the Amateur FA are welcome to compete in our most prestigious competitions, the County Cups. Entries to compete must be made at the start of the season. If you have any questions around the County Cups, please email cups@amateur-fa.com.

It is vital that you are fully knowledgeable about the rules of each competition you enter and abide by them. Fixtures will be arranged by the appropriate competition secretary, but you are likely to be responsible for pitch hire and contacting opponents and match officials with regards to location and kick-off time if you are the home team, plus ensuring all your players are eligible to play.

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Open-age football can be played by anyone aged 16 and above so if you have an under 18 in your team, you must follow certain requirements to safeguard these individuals. Details of these responsibilities are found here.

Continuing to look to improve and grow your club is vital for its long-term sustainability. If you want assistance when taking the next steps in your club’s journey, you may benefit looking at both the Club Development and Club Management resources we have produced.

The FA Respect

Respect

The FA's Respect programme provides a series of tools for leagues, clubs, coaches, players and parents from grassroots to elite football - to help ensure a safe, positive environment in which to play the game.