Sports grants – Everything you need to know
Navigating the world of sports grants can be a bit of a headache. Especially as they tend to change all the time in terms of available funds, deadlines, criteria and application processes. To save you the hard work of finding a grant, we’ve compiled a list of 10 UK sports grants clubs can apply for in 2026 and beyond.
So, what are the best sports grant programs available in the UK?
From grants that can help cover the cost of equipment, kit and facilities, to pitch maintenance and much more. Read on for our list of UK sports grants. Full in-depth criteria for each grant can be found by clicking the individual links.
12 sports club grants you can apply for in 2026
The Young Futures Fund By The ASDA Foundation
The ASDA Foundation’s aim is to support young people in their communities, specifically focussing on mental and physical wellbeing.
This grant is currently closed. It opened from Tuesday 6th until Tuesday 20th January 2026.
What does the Young Futures Fund cover?
- Workshops
- Equipment or activities for clubs
- Essential items involved in crisis support such as clothes and hygiene items
- Delivery of specialist support
- Volunteering costs for things like training (£100 per person limit)
- Sports kit and equipment
- Resources for recreational activities
- Peer support events and activities that bring teenagers together
What are the eligibility criteria for the young futures fund?
All projects that focus on the following are eligible to apply:
- Offering mental health and emotional support (such as counselling sessions)
- Provides essential items
- Drives awareness of the key issues that teenagers face day to day
- Rehabilitation, recovery and shelter
- Activities and events that build connections, improve wellbeing and develop physical health
Note that groups aiding social issues in their community, as well as promoting inclusivity and access to activities will have their funding applications prioritised.
Grassroots groups that adhere to the above criteria can apply for grants of £500 to £1,000.
This grant is currently closed.
The National Lottery Community Fund
The National Lottery Community Fund donates £600 million a year to community projects in the UK. Money is raised by those who play The National Lottery.
What does The National Lottery Community Fund cover?
- It helps to build and maintain sports facilities from stadiums to local clubhouses
- Provides funding for equipment and training for coaches and volunteers
- Funding for projects that are designed to make sport more accessible for underrepresented groups within the community
- Direct financial aid to young athletes to help with the cost of their chosen sport
- Initiatives that connect physical activity with mental health services
What is the eligibility criteria for The National Lottery Community Fund?
- Does your club bring people together and build strong relationships in and across communities?
- Does your club improve the places and spaces that matter to communities?
- Does your club help more people reach their potential by supporting them at the earliest possible stage?
Sports clubs can apply for either an amount of up to £10,000 or sums over £10,000 depending on whether they meet the criteria.
Tesco Stronger Starts
Every year Tesco opens up their Strong Starts program to local charities and community organisations, including sports clubs. Tesco stores across the UK select three local worthwhile community causes every three months for the ‘blue token’ customer vote campaign.
What do the Tesco Community Grants cover?
- Sports equipment
- Funding for kit
- Providing important resources to help sports communities thrive
What is the eligibility criteria for the Tesco Stronger Starts program?
Voluntary or community organisations are welcome to apply for the grant, with a specific emphasis on those that incorporate a food component into their operations. Here are some examples:
- Sports clubs that provide food as part of their project
- Holiday clubs that provide healthy meals and snacks to attendees
- Youth clubs that provide health meals and snacks
Sports grants of up to £1,500 are available for local sports clubs and community organisations.
Barclays Community Football Fund
Barclays Community Sport Fund aims to help make football, tennis and cricket more accessible at a grassroots level. There is a particular focus on including and inspiring girls and young people from lower socio-economic and under-represented groups, including culturally diverse communities, young people with disabilities, and young people from the LGBTQ+ community.
What does the Barclays Community Sport Fund cover?
- Venue hire
- Help with coaching costs
- Volunteer expenses
- Equipment for clubs
- Kit
- Marketing support
- Training for volunteers and coaches
- Insurance
Your club will also gain access to exclusive match- day tickets, mascot places and a range of promotional opportunities.
What is the eligibility criteria for the Barclays Community Sport Fund?
- Your club must be a not-for-profit organisation
- You must have a bank account in the name of your club
- You must have an up-to-date Safeguarding policy in place
- You offer football activities to young people (under 25) or you are wanting to start
- You currently offer football activities for girls or you are wanting to start
- You are committed to growing the membership of your football club
- You want to access training to learn about how to engage with new under-represented audiences
Sports grants of £1,000 are available, and clubs must use the funding within six months.
Read more about football club grants here.
Cash4Clubs
Since 2008, Cash4Clubs has given over £800,000 to community sports projects. The organisation has a passion for supporting local clubs, and recognises the power that sports can have in communities.
The grant is funded by Flutter Entertainment and is available to grassroots sports clubs.
What does the Cash4Clubs grant cover?
- Facility improvements
- Upgraded equipment
- Coach training and qualifications
- Operating costs
- Marketing and communication costs
- Activity programmes designed to engage people from underrepresented groups
What is the eligibility criteria for the Cash4Clubs grant?
Clubs must provide evidence that they use sport as a mechanism to tackle social issues such as developing life skills, employment opportunities or reducing crime and anti-social behaviour
Grants are awarded up to a maximum of £5,000.
Football Foundation
The Football Foundation provides grants to grassroots football clubs all over the UK. They have a wide range of funding on offer to help improve the quality of local football clubs.
What does the Football Foundation grant cover?
- New changing rooms and pavilions
- The refurbishment of existing changing rooms
- Improvement of small-sided facilities
- Funding for new 3G pitches
- Maintenance of 3G pitches
Who is eligible for the Football Foundation grant?
- Non-profit football clubs
- Local authorities
- County Football Associations (FAS)
- Professional club community organisations
- Registered charities
- Community interest companies (CICs)
Sports grants of up to £25,000 can be awarded.
Read more about football club grants here.
ECB County Grants Fund (Cricket)
This is a fairly new funding opportunity for cricket clubs. Periodically throughout the year, they add time-specific grants that you can apply for.
What does the ECB Country Grants Fund cover?
- Enhanced facilities and playing opportunities
- Helping clubs deal with the effects of climate change
Who is eligible for the ECB County Grants Fund?
The scheme is open to ECB affiliated Cricket Clubs registered for All-Stars/Dynamos, or directly involved with Women’s and Girls’ Cricket and/or Disability cricket. It is an expectation that any junior programme will include and actively engage with girls.
Open to ECB affiliated Cricket Clubs actively engaged in competitive female-only cricket and/or disability cricket.
Clubs can apply for sums between £1,000 and £10,000.
The Primary Club
The Primary Club provides financial support for a wide range of sports for the blind and visually impaired (VI). Although their roots lie in cricket, they support a wide range of other VI sports including baseball, futsal, goalball, golf, scuba diving, showdown, skiing, swimming, tandem cycling and Braille chess.
What does The Primary Club grant cover?
- The costs of developing and maintaining sports and recreational facilities for the blind and visually impaired
- The purchase of necessary equipment
- Funding of day-to-day expenses
- Priority is given to grassroots clubs and new initiatives
What are the eligibility criteria for The Primary Club?
All projects must relate clearly to the sporting and/or recreational needs of individuals who are blind and partially sighted. They prioritise grassroots or start up activities.
The Trustees prioritise funding for running costs or the purchase of equipment and prefer to fund the whole cost of a project, even where this is spread over two or more years.
Grants up to £25,000 can be awarded.
The Movement Fund by Sport England
Sport England provides funding to projects and organisations of all sizes to encourage people to get more active. Funded by The National Lottery and the government, the focus is specifically on people who face barriers when it comes to physical activity, and developing ways to overcome those barriers.
What does The Movement Fund cover?
- Setting up new activity sessions for people to get more involved
- Creating new spaces for people to be active in
- Providing equipment for new activities
- Improving environmental sustainability
- Help organisations expand their capacity and capabilities so they can help more people
What are the eligibility criteria for The Movement Fund?
The idea of The Movement Fund is to be flexible, therefore they don’t provide specific eligibility criteria. However, successful projects are often doing one of the following things:
- Setting up new activity sessions to help people get involved
- Creating new spaces for people to be active in
- Improving environmental sustainability
Projects can apply for a grant from £300 to £15,000 and they can run for up to 12 months. There’s also no submission deadline and decisions are often made between six to eight weeks after you apply.
The Groundwork One Stop Community Partnership
The One Stop Community Partnership, managed by the environmental group Groundwork, is designed for community groups that are situated within two miles of a One Stop store. The project helps low-income families, supports vulnerable groups, and provides support to youth sports teams. Successful applicants also receive ongoing aid from their local One Stop store.
What does the One Stop Community Partnership cover?
- Help to tackle food poverty
- Ongoing support for youth sports teams
- Improvements to the local environment
- Aid for low-income families
- Reducing waste
What are the eligibility criteria for the One Stop Community Partnership?
All clubs and groups wanting to apply for the One Stop Community Partnership grant must operate within a two-mile radius of a One Stop store. Organisations that apply must be one of the following:
- Registered charity
- Schools
- Health bodies
- Social enterprises
- Community Interest Companies (CICs)
- Housing organisations
Successful applicants will be granted up to £1,000 and will begin a partnership with their local One Stop store. Applications will be open from 2nd March 2026.
Go! London and the NFL Foundation UK have banded together to create a brand-new grant that’s set to enable community organisations to introduce flag football to young people. The aim is to create a safe, inclusive, and energising environment to help improve mental health and wellbeing.
What does the Go! X NFL Foundation fund cover?
- Building on existing sports programmes that already offer flag football
- Introducing flag football as a tool to engage young people
- Additional training needs
- Additional equipment needs
- Coach education and support will be offered throughout the programme
What are the eligibility criteria for the Go! X NFL Foundation fund?
- Be a registered charity or community interest company (CIC)
- Have access to an indoor and outdoor space
- Operating for at least two years
- Be experienced in delivering sports initiatives
- Must have a strong safeguarding policy in place
- Must be based with Greater London
- Be operational across a 24-month period
- The funds granted to the club must not exceed 50% of the club’s annual revenue
Clubs can apply for a grant of up to £55,000 starting from May 2026 and running until April 2028.
The Angus Irvine Playing Fields Fund (AIPFF)
Distributing grants to local community groups, AIPFF helps to increase opportunities for young people in disadvantaged areas to play sport.
What does the Angus Irvine Playing Fields Fund cover?
- Development of fields and enhancement of playing fields as well as other community sport facilities
- Delivery of projects that help prevent youth crime
- Training volunteers
- Development of long-term sustainability
- Organising and coaching of key operational costs
What are the eligibility criteria for the Angus Irvine Playing Fields Fund?
- Must be a local club or community based in Greater Manchester, Oxfordshire, Greater London or the West Midlands
- Must be based in or serving a borough/ward that’s within the top 20% indices of multiple deprivation
- Applications must focus on including young people between the ages of 5 to 18 years old, who might usually feel excluded (this could include disadvantaged young people, women and girls, young people from minority ethnic backgrounds and young offenders).
The committee meets in January, April, July, and October to discuss applications. Those accepted will receive between £2,500 – £5,000, but larger grants will also be considered in certain cases.
Interested in learning more about grassroots funding? Discover other funding options and advice on how to successfully write your bids by reading our article.
