Proposed Affiliation Price Changes for the 2023-24 season
To align London FA to the FA’s new affiliation approach for the 2023-24 season, there are some changes to the costs of affiliation to our members.
This article outlines these changes and explains how we have to sought to keep prices as low as possible. London FA have also already produced an article highlighting the safeguarding changes and what is required to affiliate for next season here.
In previous seasons, London FA would charge a club fee and team fee. The main change for the 2023-24 season set out by the FA is to move from a ‘club and team fee’ model to a ‘team fee only’ model.
With these changes and having frozen our affiliation fees for over six years, we believe the time is right to make some changes to our prices. This is due to the significant increases in our costs brought about by the cost-of-living challenges as we are not immune to the impact of this in delivering our services.
Below is a breakdown of what clubs would have been typically charged last season.
2022-23 Affiliation Fees
| Club Type | Club Affiliation Fee Season 22/23 | Team Affiliation Fee (Per Team) Season 22/23 |
| Adult Clubs, Women (Tiers 3-6) Saturday, Sunday, Midweek, Veterans) | £30.00 | £20.00 |
| Youth (U18 And Below) | £10.00 | £10.00 |
| Development Football (U5/U6) | £10.00 | £0.00 |
| Adult Small-Sided | £5.00 | £5.00 |
| Walking Football | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Disability Football | £0.00 | £0.00 |
With the new affiliation model, the costs for our clubs will be as follows.
2023-24 Affiliation Fees
| Club Type | Club Affiliation Fee Season 23/24 - REMOVED | Team Affiliation Fee (Per Team) Season 23/24 |
| Adult Clubs (inc. Step 7) Women (Tiers 3-6) Saturday, Sunday, Midweek, Veterans)* | £0.00 | £35.00 |
| Youth (U18 And Below) | £0.00 | £12.50 |
| Development Football (U5/U6) | £0.00 | £12.50 |
| Adult Small-Sided | £0.00 | £5.00 |
| Walking Football | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Disability Football | £0.00 | £0.00 |
*Step 7 clubs have been integrated into the broader ‘adult clubs’ fee of £35 under this new model
Rationale
We have consulted with several grassroots clubs and leagues about these changes and they have all indicated they are comfortable with them. The rationale for this approach is that for the smallest grassroots clubs (one and two team adult and youth teams), removing the club fee and moving to a team fee only model actually represents either a flat fee or a saving, as demonstrated in the table above. The majority of our members are one or two team clubs. For example, under our adult team total of 666 clubs, 629 of those are one or two team clubs.
So, the proposed changes will financially benefit the vast majority of our members. And even for the youth clubs with a very large number of teams, the biggest team fee increases are no more than £115, which works out at an extra 23 pence per player (based on a team squad size of 10).
After consulting a number of grassroots clubs and leagues about the price increase, we believe this is the right approach to the amendments to our prices and brings us in line with the FA’s overall changes to affiliation for the 2023-24 season.
Insurances
We recognise that insurance (both Personal Accident and Public Liability) is the most significant cost as part of affiliation, and we are pleased to confirm that those costs for next season will remain flat. This ensures that the overall costs of affiliation for clubs in London remain as low as possible and we believe that overall, we are in line with prices across our neighbouring County FAs.
Further information on preparing for Affiliation for next season can be found on our website at the link at the top of this article or by emailing Affiliations@LondonFA.com