Training for Football Club charities to improve community health
Author: RSPH 09 October 2025 2 min read
RSPH and EFL in the Community are kicking off a new pilot to improve health in communities across England.
The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and EFL in the Community have today announced that they will be joining forces to deliver bespoke public health training to Football Club charities across England – the first pilot of its kind.
The training will cover a range of different public health topics such as addressing health inequalities, encouraging physical activity, and supporting behaviour change to help people lead healthier, happier lifestyles.
What is a Football Club charity?
Football Clubs are at the heart of their communities. having been rooted in towns and cities across England and Wales since the 19th century, they hold a unique position in society. More than 49 million people live within 15 miles of an EFL Club, demonstrating that they really are at the heart of their communities, offering support 365 days a year.
Each of the 72 EFL clubs have a Football Club charity. They are independent charities associated with Football Clubs and run a range of community initiatives and outreach programmes improve the health, wellbeing, and cohesion in places across England and Wales.
With more than one million people engaged in Club community activity each season and more than one billion pounds worth of social value generated through the range of programmes delivered, the work has a massive impact in their communities.
With their deep ties, Club charities are extremely well placed to positively impact the health and wellbeing of the communities they are based in.
Club charities and the link with public health
RSPH has long been an advocate of the wider public health workforce. These are people that are engaged in activities that support the health of the public and see this as an important part of their job but aren’t part of the core specialist public health workforce.
There are approximately 40,000 people working in core public health roles, whereas RSPH analysis shows that there are up to 1.5 million people in the wider workforce.
The positive impact of the wider public health workforce in building health isn’t always recognised. However, it offers immense potential to take health prevention into the heart of our communities and bring public health principles to everyday settings.
Staff in Club charities play an integral part in the wider public health workforce because of the positive impact they have on the health and wellbeing of the people they work with.
How will the pilot work?
As the UK’s leading provider of specialist public health training, RPSH has developed a range of educational products to meet the needs of the wider public health workforce.
The programme will be piloted with 120 staff from 10 Club charities who will receive a tailored package of educational products from RSPH. This will help equip the staff with the public health knowledge they need to go further with the people they support.
The pilot programme will run from October 2025 – March 2026. Based on the pilot’s success, it will be scaled up across the country in the years ahead.
Football Clubs sit at the heart of community life. They hold a unique place in the national consciousness and are a core part of the social fabric of places across England and Wales.
William Roberts, Chief Executive, RSPH
The staff of Club charities are already doing tremendous work to support the health and wellbeing of the people they engage with. By embedding public health skills into their work, we want to help them go further. This is a really exciting partnership and has real potential to have a deep impact.
The most effective public health interventions meet people where they are, and this partnership really embodies that ethos. If we want to build a healthier nation, we need to build the capacity of the wider public health workforce.
