The ESFA is the national governing body for football in schools and is an incorporated charity as well as a Membership Association. This means we have around 350 groups of volunteers working across England, in District, County and Regional Schools' Football Associations, creating fantastic opportunities for children of school age to play football. Our Members run competitions, tournaments, festivals and leagues across the whole of England and also create opportunities for more talented players to take part in representative football, including at international level. This work is carried out by our fantastic army of local volunteers, over 2000 of whom give freely of their time to enable children to benefit from our sport.
At a national level, the ESFA offers around 50 national competitions from U11 age group right through to U18s, with thousands of teams competing each year to be crowned national champions. We also offer specific provision for pupils who are under-represented in football or who have never played before, football-based projects in the school curriculum, opportunities for young match officials to gain experience and much more. Our small workforce of 14 staff is mostly based in our HQ in Stafford, from where national operations are directed.
All of this work is governed by our Board of Trustees, who are responsible for running the business of the charity whilst our Council focuses on the strategic oversight of the ESFA's football offer.
