Season 23-24 Team Affiliation

Affiliation 2023

We understand the landscape of football is changing and with that, some of our processes have to change with it. We recognise teams can start at any time during a season, especially in youth football which our current affiliation process via Whole Game System, makes very difficult for clubs. Opening in June 2023, your affiliation will be available in Clubs Portal  without a ‘window’ to complete your affiliation as we move to managing your club and teams year-round. This means you’ll be able to add and fold teams when your competitions require and means any teams which aren’t yet ready to affiliate, will not stop your club from affiliating!

What's new?

Affiliate team by team

In Whole Game System, a club could not complete their affiliation until every team within the club was compliant with regulations. Moving to affiliation by team means that when a team is ready, they can affiliate at the touch of a button. For example, if you’re a club with a first team in the National League System as well as having youth teams & disability provision, you can affiliate the first team for their earlier start and complete the youth teams when they’re ready.

Insurance

Your County FA can now allow you to purchase your insurance directly in Clubs Portal. Please speak to your County FA to see if this is available to you

Manage League

We know as the season approaches kick off, things can quickly change. Should a team need to change league, provided no players have been registered, you will now be able to manage this yourself. You can find guidance on how to update your league  here.

Fold Team

If at any point in the season, any of your teams unfortunately has to fold, you can do this directly in Clubs Portal without the need to speak to your County FA. If your team is folded, all players assigned to the team will be removed and both your County FA and League will be notified automatically through Clubs Portal.

Automated Approval

Once your team is fully compliant to affiliation regulations, and if you’ve purchased insurance directly through Clubs Portal, your affiliation will be automatically approved so you will no longer have to wait for your County FA to manually review and approve, meaning you’ll have more time to spend elsewhere in your club!

Safeguarding

Clubs will be asked to confirm they understand their safeguarding responsibilities when affiliating. The ‘Safeguarding Declaration’ reflects footballs safeguarding policies and procedures and the club’s commitment to create an ever safer culture. For more information on safeguarding in football please visit https://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/safeguarding