The Football Supporters' Association (The FSA) is the national, democratic, representative body for football supporters in England and Wales. They are the leading advocates for supporter ownership, better fan engagement, cheaper ticket prices, the choice to stand at the match ( safe standing), protecting fan rights, good governance, diversity, and all types of supporter empowerment across both the men's and women's game. The FSA's chair is

Tom Greatrex Thomas James Greatrex (born 30 September 1974) is a British Labour Co-op politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West between 2010 and 2015 and the Shadow Energy Minister from 2011 to 2015. In 2016 Greatre ...

, and its vice-chair is Chris Paouros, both of whom sit as supporters' representatives on

The FA The Football Association (the FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsibl ...

Council.

Founding and membership

The organisation was formed after the merger of two national football supporters' organisations, the

Football Supporters' Federation The Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) was an organisation representing football fans in England and Wales. It campaigned across a range of issues and supports fan representation on clubs' boards, lower ticket prices, and the introduction of ...

and

Supporters Direct Supporters Direct was an umbrella organisation set up originally by the British government (with cross-party support) to provide support and assistance for its member trusts to secure a greater level of accountability and deliver democratic rep ...

, was agreed to on 22 November 2018. The name of the new organisation was announced on 6 June 2019. The FSA represents more than 500,000 members made up of individual fans and more than 300 affiliated and associated supporters' organisations from every club in the professional game and many more throughout the whole footballing pyramid. Membership of the FSA is free to all fans, providing they promote the cause of diversity, oppose discrimination, reject violence and promote a positive culture of fair play and goodwill between all football supporters.

Work with stakeholders

The FSA regularly meets with the football authorities and the

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for culture and sport, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as broadcasting. I ...

to discuss a wide range of issues relating to the concerns of football supporters. They are the structured dialogue partners of the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, EFL and the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

, facilitating dialogue between those organisations and supporters. They also partner with football's anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out on the Fans for Diversity campaign, and with

, the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; ) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, its Wales women's national football team, correspo ...

and the

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

on fans' embassies for England and Wales matches overseas. They have regular dialogue with other groups, including the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sports trade union, with approximately 5,000 current members each seaso ...

, the Independent Football Ombudsman and Police Match Commanders, among others, and are founder-members of

Football Supporters Europe Football Supporters Europe (FSE) is a football fan network formally established as a non-profit member association and claiming to have members from more than 48 UEFA member countries. Founded in July 2008 at the first European Football Fans Co ...

(FSE), working with other national and trans-national organisations as dialogue partners with

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

. The FSA's chief executive, Kevin Miles, is an elected committee member of FSE. The FSA is also secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Football Supporters.

Campaigns and other work

The FSA promotes the value of supporter and community engagement and helps

supporters' trust In British sports, a supporters' trust is a formal, democratic and not-for-profit organisation of Fan (person), fans who attempt to strengthen the influence of supporters over the running of the club they support. There are over 140 supporters' tru ...

s to secure influence and become a constructive voice in how their club is run. There are around 50 clubs owned by their supporters including the first ever supporter-owned football club in the United Kingdom,

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

, and Newport County, as well as clubs part-owned in partnership with supporters' trusts such as

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

. The Stand Up For Choice campaign, previously known as the Safe Standing campaign, has received widespread political backing. At the 2019 UK general election all three major English political parties included a commitment to move towards safe standing in their manifestos. Work on pilots of standing areas in the top flight which were to be explored after the publication of the

’s Rapid Evidence Assessment into the all-seater policy in 2019 were halted by the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

and the subsequent restrictions on supporters attending matches. In 2020, partly in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and its effects on the game but also as a result of long-standing finance and governance issues, the FSA launched the Sustain the Game! campaign. It calls for urgent action from the authorities to protect clubs throughout the country, for greater transparency and independent financial controls, and for the Government to deliver on its manifesto commitment of a 'fan-led review of football governance'. The campaign received cross-party political support, as well as backing from hundreds of supporter organisations and football industry figures such as Jamie Carragher and

Henry Winter Henry Winter (born 18 February 1963) is an English sports journalist. He currently writes for '' World Soccer'', having previously been the Chief Football Writer for ''The Times'' and a Football Correspondent for ''The Daily Telegraph''. Ed ...

. The campaign launch came two months ahead of the divisive and unpopular 'Project Big Picture' proposals, which would have seen sweeping changes to the organisation of English football and which were ultimately unanimously rejected. At its 2020 AGM the organisation formalised the creation of a network to represent supporters in the women's game, on the back of work over the preceding 18 months which saw the creation of more than 25 supporter groups throughout the top four divisions of women's football. In 2022, local football supporters in

Bury, Greater Manchester Bury (, ) is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846. The town was originally part of the ...

were urged to vote in a poll, facilitated by the FSA, regarding a potential merger of the supporters groups of

Bury F.C. Bury Football Club is an English association football club based in Bury, Greater Manchester. It most recently played in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, following a 2023 ...

and Bury A.F.C. The FSA said there was no "viable and sustainable alternative to the merger", which, if approved, could potentially see the eventual return of professional football to the town's

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gi ...

stadium following Bury F.C.'s expulsion from the EFL in August 2019.

FSA Awards

The Football Supporters’ Association Player of the Year is an annual award, presented at the FSA Awards ceremony in association with 'BeGambleAware', given to the player who is adjudged to have had the best year in all of the divisions of Welsh and

English football Football is the most popular sport in England. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern football, the first official rules of the game were established in England in 1863. The country is home to the world's first football league, the oldest ...

. The award has been presented since 2013, when the inaugural winner was

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

striker

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

. The most recent winners of the award are Frida Maanum of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and of Liverpool. Winners are selected by public vote following a nominations process. The table indicates where the winning player also won one or more of the other major "player of the year" awards in English football, namely the Professional Footballers' Association's Players' Player of the Year award (PPY), the Football Writers' Association's

Footballer of the Year Footballer of the Year may refer to: Association football World * FIFA World Player of the Year (1991–2009) * FIFA Ballon d'Or (2010–2015) * The Best FIFA Men's Player (since 2016) Other * African Footballer of the Year * Asian Footballer o ...

award (FWA), the PFA Fans' Player of the Year award (FPY), the

Premier League Player of the Season The Premier League Player of the Season is an annual association football award presented to players in England, which recognises the most outstanding player in the Premier League each season. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by t ...

award (PPS), and the

PFA Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year (often called the PFA Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the ...

award (YPY). Awards are issued in a variety of other categories, including pundits, podcasters, writers and other football media.

References

External links