Accredited Colleges
ECFA Accredited Colleges are part of a grant funding initiative, which AoC Sport runs in partnership with the Football Association (FA).
In 2020, The ECFA Accredited Colleges model replaced its predecessor, the FA College Grassroots Hub programme.
Accredited Colleges have access to a range of services to develop football provision. These Accredited Services include workforce development opportunities as well as access to funding opportunities to develop collaborative football projects.
These standards are achieved through a collaborative approach involving a range of football stakeholders including County FAs, affiliated clubs, active partnerships and local charities.
All Accredited Colleges are expected to recruit one male and one female student ECFA Activator to facilitate and deliver activity, with the overarching aim of engaging internal (college student) participants and external (local community) participants into regular football activity.
In 2023-24, our 104 Accredited Colleges engaged over 17,500 recreational participants and 147 Football Activators. Our aim for the ECFA Accredited College model is to increase our capacity to support more institutions to develop their football provision.
Independent research has showed that football activity across our funded programmes has helped to:
- Tackle inactivity – 9% of players had not played football before attending a College Grassroots Hub
- Increased students’ ambitions to progress onto further study – 71% of players stated that they were more likely to consider applying to college or University
- Improve students’ attainment (78%), attendance (72%), employability (89%), mental wellbeing (74%) and their student experience (87%).
How to apply
Apply to become an ECFA Accredited College using our online form
Find out more
If you are a member college of AoC Sport and would like more information about becoming an Accredited College, or have a question about the application, please contact Joshua Stockdale, National Football Development Officer.
