The club will now work to develop a unique brand and identity for Nottingham Netball under the Nottingham Forest banner.
The announcement comes following the club’s pioneering initiative “A New Vision For Sport” which was launched earlier this year, a project committed to ensuring that every adult and every child in Nottinghamshire is afforded the time and the recreational space to exercise for their health and wellbeing.
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has always shown a strong commitment to developing a more diverse and inclusive sporting portfolio, which he has successfully implemented at Nottingham Forest’s sister club, Olympiacos, who boast a franchise structure of many different sports.
Not only will the formation of Nottingham Forest Netball provide opportunities at the elite level, but for women and girls of all ages with the addition of Pathway development teams from Under-23s down to Under-12s. There will also be extensive opportunities for girls to play netball through the extension of our community coaching sessions throughout the region.
Netball is the most played team sport by women in the UK with over 3M people playing annually and over 8.5M people tuning in to watch during 2023.
This development also outlines the club’s commitment to promoting women in sport, coinciding with the continued development of Nottingham Forest Women, who narrowly missed out on a place in the Barclays Women’s Championship this term.
Nottingham Forest Netball are also pleased to have partnered with the University of Nottingham, who will be providing training facilities and other additional support to the club to help establish itself as one of the best in the country.
A Nottingham Forest spokesperson said: “Nottingham Forest is a brand that is recognised globally as inclusive and progressive. Like our sister club, Olympiacos, the opportunity to extend our brand into Netball was too good to be missed and we are delighted with today’s announcement.
“We have so many young female fans who can now dream of not just playing in the Garibaldi red of Forest in football matches, but now on the netball court.
“The club is delighted to announce the team’s home fixtures will be played at the Motorpoint Arena providing supporters with even more exciting opportunities to watch Nottingham Forest.”
Martin Ingham, Chief Executive at Motorpoint Arena Nottingham said: “As an established arena partner with England Netball for both international matches and the Netball Super League Opener, we have a proud history of hosting world-class netball events.
“We are absolutely delighted to become the host for Nottingham Forest Netball Club’s NSL 2.0 franchise and look forward to creating an exceptional match day experience for netball fans in their new home venue.”
With thanks to Nottingham Forest Netball
