GoCardless backs the beautiful game by partnering with 15 County FAs, supporting grassroots football across England

LONDON, UK – 6 November 2025 – Bank payment company GoCardless has announced further support for grassroots football with 15 new partnerships with County Football Associations (FA) across England.  

The initiatives will not only help local teams focus less on chasing late payments, and more on building community, self-belief and lifelong healthy habits through football -- they will also see GoCardless working hand-in-hand with County FAs to champion accessibility, diversity, and inclusion across the game. 

Highlights include: 

• Gloucestershire FA: The Girls Coaching centre will be renamed as the GoCardless Girls Coaching Centre. There will also be a newly created GoCardless Hardship Fund offering financial bursaries to low income Girls Coaching Centre (GCC) players, helping to remove financial barriers and ensure greater access to local team sport.

• Northumberland FA: GoCardless will back St Peter’s Sports Hub, the largest facility for grassroots football in the northeast, hosting workshops for coaches in disability games to improve access to football for players with disabilities. 

• Surrey FA: GoCardless is sponsoring the Women’s Cup and Discriminated Background Cup, reflecting its commitment to driving diversity and opportunity on and off the pitch. 

• Sussex FA: The headquarters of Sussex FA and home of Lancing FC, Culver Road, will be renamed the GoCardless Stadium, celebrating a shared vision for making football accessible for all. 

Taking the stress out of payments - so clubs can focus on players: 

Football clubs within these County FAs can use GoCardless’ enhanced Direct Debit capabilities for recurring payments -- perfect for regular collecting subs -- and pair them with open banking payments to take one-off transactions, such as tournament registration fees and payment of red and yellow cards. 

The GoCardless platform will help clubs automate collections, gain greater visibility over their funds, and predict future income with ease – all while keeping costs down thanks to GoCardless’s transparent pricing model and the ability to sidestep cards, with their high associated fees. This means more money staying in the game, more financial certainty for clubs, and more opportunities for players to thrive. 

GoCardless has been deepening its commitment to grassroots sports in recent years. Earlier this year GoCardless expanded its partnership with Kent FA by becoming the Official County Cups Sponsor for the adult competitions, following a relationship that started in 2024 to champion women’s and girls’ football within the county. Last year, the fintech also joined forces with Total Grassroots and kit manufacturer Kelme to boost financial sustainability for local clubs. 

Catherine Birkett, Chief Financial Officer at GoCardless, said: “We believe County FAs play a vital role in their communities. They support football clubs in bringing people together, forging friendships, and developing the stars of the future. We’re proud to support these clubs and the people behind them, making it easier to do what they do best: inspire, include, and unite. By streamlining their payment processes, we’re gifting clubs, their staff and volunteers that precious time back to focus on what truly matters – making a positive impact both on and off the pitch.”  

An additional six County FA partnerships are expected to be announced in the coming months.

For more information on how GoCardless supports grassroots football clubs, please visit here. 

Notes to Editors 

Complete list of FA sponsorships include:

• Cambridgeshire FA 

• Cheshire FA

• Derbyshire FA 

• Gloucestershire FA 

• Hampshire FA 

• Kent FA 

• Leicestershire & Rutland FA 

• London FA

• Middlesex FA

• Norfolk FA 

• Northumberland FA

• Oxfordshire FA 

• Somerset FA 

• Surrey FA 

• Sussex FA 

For more information, contact: 

press@gocardless.com 

About GoCardless 

GoCardless is a global bank payment company. Nearly 100,000 businesses, from start-ups to household names, use GoCardless to collect and send payments through direct debit, real-time payments and open banking. 

 GoCardless processes US$130bn+ of payments annually across 30+ countries; helping customers collect and send both recurring and one-off payments, without the chasing, stress or expensive fees. We use data and insights to improve payment success, reduce fraud and, with open banking connectivity to over 2,500 banks, help our customers make faster, more informed decisions. 

 We are headquartered in the UK, with additional offices in Australia, France, Ireland, Latvia and the United States. For more information, please visit www.gocardless.com and follow us on LinkedIn @GoCardless. 

 © 2025 GoCardless Ltd. All Rights Reserved. GoCardless is a registered trademark of GoCardless Ltd in multiple countries. Third party trademarks mentioned above are owned by their respective companies. Unless explicitly identified as such, nothing in this press release should be construed to the contrary, or as an approval, endorsement or sponsorship by any third parties of GoCardless Ltd. or any aspect of this press release.