The FAW/McDonald’s Club Accreditation scheme helps clubs increase regular participation by both boys and girls through delivering a quality assured football programme.

The scheme has four accreditation levels beginning with the standard award which is mandatory for all clubs playing junior football. This is followed by bronze, silver and gold levels.

The Club Accreditation Scheme focuses on the following key areas:

• Constitution and affiliation
• Player welfare and equal opportunities
• Coach education
• Equipment and facilities
• Player and volunteer recruitment and development
• Identification and support of talented players

There are many benefits in taking part in the scheme, including:

• Improving the image of your club
• Use of a charter marked logo
• Kit voucher system for clubs at bronze, silver and gold levels
• Ongoing support from a professional football development officer
• Resources to help club organisation

To register your club for the scheme, you need to complete an online process via the FAW portal. Further instructions on how to do this please click here for a step by step guide.

Clubs wanting to work towards bronze, silver or gold accreditation should discuss with their local football development officer the next steps to working towards the accreditations.

The online Club Accreditation Resource Pack can be found in this, the Grassroots Football section of the website.

Over the past ten years grassroots football coaching has seen a surge in popularity across Wales, with currently more than 10,000 coaches and volunteers actively involved in the grassroots game, according to a report by McDonald’s.

The report –Ten Years of Teamwork – was commissioned by McDonald’s to celebrate the tenth anniversary of McDonald’s Community Partnership with the Football Association of Wales. The report set out to review what has been achieved over the last ten years in the grassroots game and to understand how the voluntary game can be developed further.

A study was compiled in association with Loughborough University’s Institute of Youth Sport, by the Senior Research Associate Dr Steven Bradbury and Professor Barrie Houlihan, who analysed the growth of grassroots football across the UK.

To read the finding of the report, please click here.