Clubs to receive resource funding in next step of football fund

Twenty clubs will receive resource funding to help them prepare their business cases for the next step of the Northern Ireland Football Fund.

In September 2025, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons announced 20 clubs across Northern Ireland would move to the next round of the process of acquiring funding from the £36.2m set aside, with three different tiers of funding available.

Letters of offer for funding were sent by the Department for Communities on Thursday to all 20 clubs, which represent the first funding awards made through the NI Football Fund.

Financial support of up to £400,000 has been made available from a resource budget which is separate from the ringfenced £36.2million capital budget assigned to the NI Football Fund.

Ballymena United, Bangor, Carrick Rangers, Cliftonville, Dungannon Swifts, Glenavon, Glentoran, Larne, Loughgall and Newry City will receive up to £10,000 to "update their business case".

This is because those 10 clubs previously received business case funding from the Football Ground Business Case Development Fund.

Armagh City, Ballinamallard United, Ballymacash Sports Academy, Banbridge Town, Dergview, Lisburn Distillery, Lisburn Rangers, Oxford Sunnyside, Queen's University and Rathfriland Rangers will all receive up to £30,000 to "develop a new business case from scratch".

In a statement, the Department of Communities said that business cases must "propose strong projects which align with club applications, and any issues identified at initial due diligence stage are dealt with".

"Multi-year operational plans will also be required, setting out how clubs plan to manage new facilities in a sustainable manner," the statement added.

Lyons said that he was "delighted" that the first offers of financial support have been made to clubs.

"Clubs have waited long enough for this funding to be made available. It's now over to clubs to develop or finalise their business cases which set out their detailed project proposals, costs and benefits.

"They will be doing that over the next couple of months, and my officials will be on hand to help them."

Clubs will be expected to prepare and submit completed business cases within three to six months for departmental approval, with no decision on the division of the £36.2 million able to be made until all business cases have been submitted and either approved or rejected.

Last year, Lyons estimated the departmental cost of all 20 projects was "just over £82m", and "estimated total project costs" came to £98m.

Glentoran and Cliftonville are the two clubs who were successful in progressing in the third and most expensive tier, with funding applications of more than £6m.

Ballinamallard United, Ballymena United, Banbridge Town, Bangor, Carrick Rangers, Dergview, Dungannon Swifts, Glenavon, Larne, Lisburn Rangers, Loughgall, Newry City, Oxford Sunnyside were successful in the middle tier, which consisted of applications between £1.5m to £6m.

Armagh City, Ballymacash Rangers, Lisburn Distillery, Queens' University and Rathfriland Rangers were successful in the lowest tier, for funding applications of less than £1.5m.

Crusaders and Derry City joined forces in October to commence legal proceedings over their omission from Stage Two of the Northern Ireland Football Fund.