The Irish FA’s charity arm, the Irish FA Foundation, has completed a restructure as part of its continuous evolution.
The updated Foundation model will allow for greater investment into key stakeholders across Northern Ireland and ensure continued sustainability within the Foundation operations, according to Foundation Director James Thompson.
Thompson said: “I firstly want to thank all staff members over the last four months, it has been challenging, but everyone has contributed positively to the process. We are now positioned to increase both capacity building and legacy components across all the Foundation programmes.
With a refined focus, there will be more investment into youth football, school football and club development, while continuing to expand the work through the community engagement team.”
Strategically the Foundation will now have increased funds to invest in to the implementation of the Youth Football Framework and the 2025 - 2029 Women’s and Girls’ Strategy. Both crucially are aligned with the Irish FA’s corporate strategy, A Roadmap for Football.
Foundation departments are and will cover:
• Game Development – develop and support youth leagues and small sided game centres
• Club Development – working with clubs to support development on and off the pitch
• School Development – enhancing school programme and opportunities to play in school football
• Community Engagement – further develop programmes offered within each community
• Inclusive Football & Sustainability – developing all ability levels of football and embedding sustainable practices into clubs
• Women’s & Girls’ Development – implementing the women’s & girls’ strategy
• Foundation Development – responsible for income generation and programme quality assurance
“This is a really exciting time for the Foundation,” added Thompson. “We are really looking forward to kicking off all the new programmes in September.”
For staff roles and contact information, please visit Irish FA Staff.
