UEFA research has revealed that football’s impact on Northern Ireland is worth almost half a billion pounds.
Major research commissioned by European football’s governing body shows football has economic, social and health benefits totalling £470m.
UEFA research, supported by the Irish FA, found that Northern Ireland’s 70,000 registered football players and 18,000 volunteers made a £77.68m contribution to the economy in 2021.
They also generated the equivalent of £262m in social benefits and £131m worth of savings in healthcare.
The overall total impact of football is £470m, with each individual participant in grassroots football worth £6,700 per annum to the Northern Ireland economy.
Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson said: “We’ve always known that football has its value off the field and that it contributes to health, wellbeing and social development.
“Now UEFA has put an economic model together which actually proves that. It’s in conjunction with academics from 10 different universities.
“It has also been tested in two markets to begin with - in Sweden and Romania - and has now been rolled out in 40 countries.
“The outcome suggests that we as a football family in Northern Ireland generate around £470m every year and that’s a staggering amount.
“We have around 70,000 players and 18,000 volunteers and this model includes the social, health, education and employment benefits as well as the direct spending all of them make.”
Player spending of £68.8m, a total that includes the likes of club fees, equipment, kit, trips plus food and drink, and facility hire (£8.83m) make up the bulk of the £77.68m contribution to the economy.
But social capital (£171m), volunteering (£71m), education and employment (£14.9m) and crime prevention (£507k) are also key contributors to £262m worth of social benefits.
When it comes to health benefits from football participation, fitness and wellbeing generates savings of just over £102m, including the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes (£17.4m).
Irish FA President Conrad Kirkwood said: “Many people think of 11 men or women kicking a ball around for 90 minutes, however our story is much more than that.
“Football helps change lives and makes things better. To have this quantified, evidence based and ‘on paper’ is so powerful.”
