Over £0.5m to be spent over two years across the country
Over the past three years, the Every Player Counts programme has been an amazing success. The national partnership between WNST and the EFL Trust has EFL Club Community Organisations across the country to run football activities for more than 11,000 disabled players. Participants have been of all ages and abilities – with different projects catering for the needs of people with varying disabilities and impairments.
On the back of this amazing success, WNST and EFLT have agreed to extend Every Player Counts funding for a further two years – making more than £0.5m available to provide new opportunities for disabled people who want to play football.
This new phase of Every Player Counts is being distributed following a fresh round of applications from EFL CCOs for funds to deliver projects in their local area. After careful consideration of all the requests received, 28 clubs have been invited to join the programme – a mixture of some that received funding during the original scheme and others new to Every Player Counts. The participating clubs are:
Argyle in the Community (Plymouth Argyle) Millwall Community Trust
Blackpool FC Community Trust MK Dons Sports and Education Trust
Bolton Wanderers Community Trust Northampton Town FC Community Trust
Burton Albion Community Trust Pompey in the Community (Portsmouth FC)
Cambridge United Community Trust Preston North End Community and Education Trust
Club Doncaster Foundation QPR in the Community Trust
Colchester United Football in the Community Reading FC Community Trust
County in the Community (Newport County) Reds in the Community (Barnsley FC)
Derby County Community Trust Sheffield Wednesday Community Programme
Exeter City Community Trust Shrewsbury Town in the Community
Foundation of Light (Sunderland AFC) Southend United Community and Education Trust
Fulham FC Foundation Stoke City Community Trust
Leeds United FC Foundation Swansea City Community Trust
Middlesbrough FC Foundation Wigan Athletic Community Trust
WNST Chief Executive, Stewart Goshawk, said “We are delighted to be able to continue to support Every Player Counts for a further two years and are grateful to the EFL Trust for the project management and financial contributions they will be making. The programme has been such a success over the past three years, and our expectations are equally high for the future.
It is good to see a number of CCOs retaining their place on the programme, with innovative ideas to engage with different audiences. But it is equally exciting to be welcoming some new CCOs into the fold and it will be great to work with them in the coming two years. Regardless of a club’s position in the EFL league tables, we know the power that the badge and the shirt have to inspire people in their local area to get involved in football – improving their own physical and mental well-being. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the work in action and wish all the schemes well.”
