Premier League Inspires celebrates four years of improving young peoples’ lives

The Premier League is celebrating the fourth season of its secondary school education programme, Premier League Inspires.  

Developed by the Premier League and professional football clubs, Premier League Inspires launched in 2019 and creates life-changing opportunities for young people who have been identified by their schools as needing extra support to engage with activities; helping them to develop the personal skills and positive attitudes needed to succeed in life.

Using the power of football, the programme helps to prepare 11-25-year-olds for further education and employment through a series of face-to-face mentoring sessions, workshops and social-action projects.  More than 630 schools and 18,500 young people from across England and Wales have taken part in Premier League Inspires to date. 

The Premier League has invested more than £9.8m into the programme, through the Premier League Charitable Fund.  Clubs throughout the leagues work in partnership with local schools to create a tailored programme to meet their pupils’ needs. 

This season, 44 professional football club community organisations across the Premier League and English Football League will deliver Premier League Inspires sessions at their stadiums, in local schools and at alternative educational settings, with partnership support from the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Premier League Head of Communities, Nick Perchard, said, “The Premier League Inspires programme has enabled clubs across the country to work directly with young people most in need of support, providing them with opportunities to help them succeed at school and in life.

“The programme uses football as a hook to develop participants’ personal and life skills and it’s brilliant to see what the young people have achieved on this programme since its launch in 2019. 

“We also know social action makes a difference to young people and we’re proud to give them the opportunity to tackle the issues that matter most to them and their local communities through the annual Premier League Inspires Challenge.”

Club Doncaster Foundation began its Premier League Inspires delivery in November 2022 and since then has supported 11 young people through 4 sessions in 1 local schools. 

Ed O’Mahony, who heads up the Inspires project, said, “Our Premier League Inspires project is focused on developing key life skills and aspirations to help young people to reach their potential in and out of school. 

“We set out to achieve these goals through a combination of targeted groupwork and one-to-one interventions delivered during school hours. 

“Engagement from participants, parents and our partner school has been brilliant so far and we look forward to bringing the Inspires project to more schools over the rest of the academic year.”

If you are interested about finding out more about the Inspires Project or want to get involved, please contact ed.omahony@clubdoncasterfoundation.co.uk.

Premier League Inspires also supports youth social action and volunteering in the community through a partnership with the #iwill Fund and provides young people with the opportunity to take part in the annual Premier League Inspires Challenge. 

Through this, young people consider some of the challenges facing their football club and community, exploring ways to overcome these issues through positive social action.

Academy players from football clubs also support the programme, engaging with participants at sessions and events, including the annual Premier League Inspires Challenge celebration. More than 1,200 Premier League Inspires sessions across England and Wales have been supported by Academy players to date. 

To find out more about Premier League Inspires, please visit premierleague.com