The FA has published its annual report for the 2022-23 season, between 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023.
This season marked the third financial period in our four-year Time For Change strategic term, and despite significant disruption due to global economic uncertainty, we continue to meet and exceed many of the challenging targets set in the strategy.
The key objective for an England team to win a major trophy was achieved last season with the England Women’s senior team winning the 2022 UEFA European Championship. The Lionesses built on this success by becoming the first England team to reach a World Cup Final since 1966 with their achievements in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
This success has fuelled significant growth of the women’s and girls’ game within England, and we made a huge step towards achieving another key strategic objective – to create equal opportunities for girls to play football – with the Government agreeing to allow girls the same access to football as boys within schools across the country. There are currently 2.3 million more women and girls now playing the game compared to last season, which is a 35 per cent increase.
Following Qatar 2022, as our senior men’s side continued their journey towards qualification for UEFA EURO 2024, this season also saw our England men’s under-21s win the UEFA Under 21 European Championship for the first time since 1984 – a result of our ongoing investment into developing young talent and the world-leading facilities at St. George’s Park, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year.
The number of users on our Platform For Football portal for grassroots administrators increased by 8.3 per cent this season, up to 1.44 million. Additionally, there are now almost one million users across our MatchDay, My Account and Full-Time online apps and portals, enabling users to manage grassroots football teams and submit results in easy-to-use digital platforms.
Meanwhile, we now have over 4000 pitches rated ‘good’ or above in place across the nation, and we continue to increase our focus on building more artificial pitches to support communities amid winter postponements, with 250 new artificial pitches installed over the past three seasons. We’ve also invested over £3m into improving club kitchens thanks to our partnership with Howdens.
We have continued to build interest in our men’s and women's FA Cup competitions around the world. Our investment in digital support for the Emirates FA Cup has seen a significant uplift in global fan engagement, with more than 15 million followers now on our channels, while a crowd of 77,390 at the 2023 Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final set a global record for a domestic women’s match. The Emirates FA Cup remains our biggest asset and generates over 60 per cent of our revenue to invest into the game. As a not-for-profit organisation, this allows us to invest vital funds into developing every level of the game, from grassroots through to the professional game.
On the critical issue of tackling discrimination and improving representation, the Football Leadership Diversity Code is becoming embedded within English football, and we continue to work with our stakeholders to accelerate change. We’ve also introduced groundbreaking sanctions for incidents of serious misconduct across the grassroots game, including possible points deductions for repeat offenders, and our new EDI Community of Practice has launched with 31 ambassadors representing the most diverse regions across the country, actively working to embed inclusion across the game.
Our commercial partnerships remain vital to success, with six new brands joining our portfolio in the past year: Carling, Howdens, Xero, XBOX, Mars Wrigley and Google Pixel. Alongside Marks & Spencer and Nuffield Health, we’ve also launched the Greater Game campaign to encourage young people to make healthier lifestyle choices.
Finally, this year saw Wembley Stadium celebrate its centenary, with Club Wembley reporting record-breaking sales, and our national stadium at the centre of the UK and Ireland’s successful bid to host UEFA EURO 2028, which will be another historic moment for English football.
Financial results
We generated a total turnover of £481.8m [2021-22: £518.8m] with an operating profit of £39.4m [2021-22: £138.6m]. These financial results comprise a consolidation of Football Association Limited, Wembley National Stadium Limited, and the National Football Centre Limited.
The results have been heavily impacted by fixture rescheduling due to the timing of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with the FA Community Shield and two England men’s fixtures brought forward. The impact of this was a £21.3m reduction in profit this season and a corresponding increase in 2021-22 profit, resulting in a £42.6 million year-on-year reduction.
During the 2022-23 season, we reinvested £153m into all levels of the game, an increase of £33.3m compared to last season, funded by higher revenues from the Barclays Women’s Super League and grants received from the Premier League.
FA chief executive, Mark Bullingham, said: "This year we’ve made strong progress towards our strategic goals despite the difficult economic climate and the challenging targets that we set for ourselves. We’ve increased our investment into all levels of football for the first time since the global pandemic, while building up a cash reserve as self-insurance against similar events which may negatively impact us in the future. We’ve also finished repaying the debt from building the new Wembley Stadium, which is a significant milestone.
"We have a motivated team which is passionate about driving meaningful change within the game and our communities across the country. I’m confident that we head into the future in robust financial health, with the ability and desire to rise to the challenges and the opportunities ahead of us."
For more information on the FA’s financial results, please click here.
