WHAT IS AFFILIATION?

Affiliation is an FA process through which clubs “register” with their local County Football Association, allowing them to enter affiliated league and cup competitions in the season ahead. It involves confirming which teams will be operating, where they play as well as naming the key officers and team officials involved in running the club.

If you are a new club, please get in touch ASAP: Support@GloucestershireFA.com

 

WHY DO CLUBS AFFILIATE?

Affiliation acts as a quality assurance to ensure safeguarding standards are maintained, appropriate Club insurance policies are in place and acts as a safety net to help protect and support participants, match officials, club officials and administrators throughout the game.

 

AFFILIATION REQUIREMENTS 2024/25

Gloucestershire FA’s Club Affiliation window is now open. The FA has standardised the affiliation process and all Clubs now need to affiliate their teams through the FA Clubs Portal instead of using the Whole Game System.

Club Ground – Clubs must state their main home ground. You can do this ahead of affiliation through the ‘My Club’ tab. You can find guidance on how to complete this here.

Key Officials – Clubs must record their key officials. You can find guidance on how to add your key officials here.

Team Ground - All teams must state their home ground. You can do this ahead of affiliation through the ‘My Club’ tab. You can find guidance on how to complete this here.

Named Manager or Coach – Every team must have a minimum of one Manager or Coach. This can be completed ahead of affiliation through the ‘Officials’ tab. You can find guidance here.
New for this season: The named manager/coach must also have taken the free online Player Welfare Course. They must also have a valid FA DBS check if any 16- or 17-year-old players are registered to the club.

Welfare Officer – ALL Clubs must have a named Club Welfare Officer.
New for this season: Adult Club Welfare Officers must have taken the free online Player Welfare Course. They must also have a valid FA DBS check if any 16- or 17-year-old players are registered to the club.

Safeguarding Declaration - Every club will be required to accept a Safeguarding Declaration. Where clubs have teams that play at different levels of the game, more than one declaration will need to be accepted.

club/team Insurance scheme

Gloucestershire FA continues to partner with Marsh Sport (formerly Bluefin Sport), the provider of the National Game Insurance Scheme. To find out more information on legal liability and personal accident insurance policies please click here.

 

Legal Liability Insurance

All clubs are required to have Legal Liability Insurance that provides at least £10m cover.

CountyCover Plus (includes £10m player to player liability cover) - £70.00 per Club

The CountyCover option that was previously available has been discontinued.

 

Clubs with Open Age (adult) teams

Personal Accident Insurance – All teams must have Personal Accident Insurance.

 Cover provided by Marsh Sport can be purchased via the FA Clubs Portal. Options available for adult 11-aside football are:

• Superior 200 - £80.00 per team
• Superior 400 - £130.00 per team
• Superior 600 - £216.00 per team
• Superior 1000 - £328.00 per team

Insurance for small-sided, disability, walking football and veterans’ teams is available at reduced rates (approximately 30% discount). Exact fees will be shown automatically in your Clubs Portal.

Minimum cover for NLS Step 5-6 teams is ‘Superior 200’ - £80 per team.

Clubs can purchase cover from other providers if they wish, providing that it matches or improves upon the benefits provided by the Superior 200 policy.

 

Clubs with Youth Teams

Personal Accident Insurance – All teams must have Personal Accident Insurance, including development teams.

Cover can be purchased via the FA Clubs Portal. The policy available is ‘Superior Platinum’ at £26 per team.

Clubs can purchase cover from other providers, provided that it matches or improves upon the benefits given by this policy.

Named Manager or Coach – All youth teams must name all managers and coaches assigned to each team. This can be completed ahead of affiliation through the ‘Officials’ tab. You can find guidance here.

Safeguarding Children Course - All managers, coaches, assistants and team medics/physios require an in-date, accepted FA DBS and must have an in-date FA Safeguarding Children qualification

 

Affiliation fees 2024/25

The fees for the 2024/25 season are as follows:

Team Category / Age	Fee per team (£)
Youth
Development (U5-U6)	3.00
Mini-Soccer 5v5 (U7-U8)	5.50
Mini-Soccer 7v7 (U9-U10)	7.50
Youth Football 9v9 (U11-U12)	9.50
Youth Football (U13-U18)	12.00
Disability (youth)	5.00
Futsal (youth)	9.50
Open-Age
U19-U23 11v11	27.00
Adult 11v11	27.00
Small Sided	11.00
Veterans’	16.00
Disability	10.00
Futsal	11.00
Walking Football	11.00
National League System
Adult Male 11v11 (Step 5-6)	54.00
Adult Male 11v11 (Step 3-4)	135.00
Adult Male 11v11 (Step 1-2)	160.00
Women’s Game
Women's Tier 3-4	80.00
Women's Tier 5-6	43.00
Professional Game
Premier League	160.00
Football League	160.00
Women's Super League	160.00
Women's Championship	135.00

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

COUNTY CUP COMPETITIONS – 2024/25

All adult teams must enter the appropriate County Cup competition as this enables entry to other Cup competitions, including League and FA competitions.
County Cup entry is restricted to Gloucestershire FA affiliated teams unless approved by the County FA and the team’s parent County FA.

Youth Cup competition entry is optional for youth teams.

All Clubs must seek Gloucestershire FA approval to enter a team in a County FA competition outside of Gloucestershire.

 

Entry fees 

Senior Challenge Cup (Steps 1 to 4) - £115.00
Women’s Senior Cup (Tiers 1 to 5) - £115.00
Challenge Trophy (Step 5 and 6) - £57.00
Adult, open-age (all other competitions) - £28.00
Youth (All age groups) - £23.00
 
Please note that youth cups are played on Sundays and require teams to be classified with the correct format and gender as follows:

U12 Boys – 9v9 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’
U13 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’
U14 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’
U15 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’
U16 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’
U18 Youth – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’

Saturday and mid-week Youth teams will need to apply to Support@GloucestershireFA.com to enter the Sunday competitions.

U12 Girls – 9v9 & ‘girls’
U13 Girls – 11v11 & ‘girls’
U14 Girls – 11v11 & ‘girls’
U15 Girls – 11v11 & ‘girls’
U16 Girls – 11v11 & ‘girls’
U18 Girls teams (non-mixed) are permitted to enter the GFA Women's Challenge Cup.

Benevolent Fund

Clubs are now able to donate to the Benevolent Fund as part of the affiliation process in 2024.

Please consider donating as each year we receive several applications to support injured participants, but sadly have to decline as their Club has not made a contribution in that season.

There is a dedicated support page for affiliation on the FA Grassroots Technology hub. Click here for help with any questions or concerns .

You can also click here to watch a detailed video explaining affiliation.

If you have any further questions, please contact Support@GloucestershireFA.com and a member of our team will be happy to assist you.