• ‘The Club’ advert features real-life grassroots volunteers and encourages anyone from any background to take the course and support their local club.
• The new advert will premiere on BT Sport’s coverage of Saturday’s FA Community Shield.
• BT has set the target of signing-up 100,000 FA Playmakers by 2024, 50,000 of which to be women
• 1000 BT employees have already signed up.

BT has released a new advert called ‘The Club’, as part of its launch for The FA Playmaker, with the aim to recruit an army of volunteers ahead of the grassroots season returning post Covid-19.

BT are a Lead Partner of The FA and official supporting partner of this new entry level course for grassroots volunteers. The FA Playmaker is free, open to anyone aged 14 or over, from any background, and requires no previous football experience before signing up.

‘The Club’ tells the story of a mother of a football-loving daughter who goes on a journey to become a football volunteer, having no association with the game before. At a time when grassroots football has been on pause, the film highlights how integral volunteers are, and how everyone can play their part in helping the game get back on its feet.

The advert premieres on BT Sport 1 during Saturday’s FA Community Shield match between Arsenal and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium. It will also feature across BT Sport’s opening televised fixtures of the new Premier League season, as well as across BT and The FA’s social and CRM channels.

The Club was developed by BT’s sport & entertainment agency, Cake (Havas) and is BT’s first external promotion of The FA Playmaker. BT has set the target of connecting 100,000 new volunteers to the grassroots game by 2024, 50,000 of which are to be women and has already recruited 1,000 BT employees as the first Playmakers.

Pete Jeavons, marketing communications director, BT said: “At the heart of our partnership is the growth and development of grassroots football. Together with The FA, our goal is to create the most inclusive, accessible and skilled grassroots community in the world. The FA Playmaker course means you can come from any background, without an association with football previously, and make a difference to a sport that means so much to millions of people across the country. We’re encouraging as many people as possible to get involved.”

The FA Playmaker is a key part of BT’s 4-3-3 partnerships strategy, which is focused on the grassroots, women’s and para & disability football communities. The online course also supports BT’s wider ‘Beyond Limits’ brand campaign, helping families and communities across the UK, to remove barriers of today to realise the potential of tomorrow.

Lucy Pearson, The FA’s Head of Education, said: “As well as providing an exciting new entry-point into football education, The FA Playmaker marks an important new step in how The FA provides learning to volunteers across the grassroots game. It’s a course for mums who take their daughters to a Wildcats session every week and want to get more involved, for students looking to add new skills and experiences while at school, college or university education and for those who just need some tools to improve their weekly football experiences. It really is a course for all.”

The FA Playmaker course is now live. Visit TheFA.com/Playmaker to become a qualified volunteer and make a difference at your local grassroots football club.