PZPN

The Certification Programme was created as part of the development of a strategy for increasing participation in football in Poland. Thanks to a very good cooperation with UEFA, the Polish FA is an active player in UEFA GROW scheme and in 2018, a model of social rate of return on investment in football for the Polish society was developed.). The UEFA GROW SROI for Poland confirms that investments in mass football have a significant impact in terms of economic value, social and health benefits and sports performance.

Analysing all the SROI pillars concerning Poland, the social rate of return on investment, with 481 thousand registered active players, amounted to PLN 2.2 billion. By putting more emphasis on the development of amateur football, e.g. through the implementation of the Polish FA Certification Programme, this indicator will significantly increase. Assuming additional registration of children and monitoring of the quality of training, in accordance with the model, these savings, with 1 million registered players, may reach over PLN 4.5 billion by 2025. This model helped the PFA convince the Polish government to invest PLN 35 million in Certification.

From the very beginning, the PFA prepared for the project carefully by acquiring knowledge, identifying qualified staff for the implementation of the project and carrying out consultations not only at European level, but also directly with grassroots clubs in the pilot phase.

Thanks to the Programme, parents and children playing football are reassured that the certified clubs meets the training standards, is safe and its staff has the necessary qualifications to train players. Granting a certificate to a given entity on one of the three levels (gold, silver or bronze) is synonymous with fulfilling a number of criteria and a guarantee of quality training. The units awarded in this way by the PFA were among the elite group of grassroots clubs constituting the best place for children to develop football skills.

A club is certified for two full seasons, during which it is regularly monitored by the Polish FA. Nearly 1,200 entities applied for the first project cycle (2019-21). All of them were thoroughly monitored and 694 certificates were granted. Currently, after nearly a year of the project's operation, 632 clubs remain in the Programme: 386 at the brown level, 133 at silver and 113 at gold. They will receive a total of PLN 35 million as part of the funding from the Polish Ministry of Sport. It is the largest budget in the history of the public funds for the promotion of a particular sport among children and young people. Subsidies for clubs can be used for specific purposes: remuneration of coaches, improvement of their qualifications and renting of sports facilities.

The Polish Football Association constantly evaluates the project in terms of content, operation and criteria. The evaluation is based on consultations with the community, conclusions of monitoring visits and statistical data. All this is done to make the programme as adjusted to the realities and to the needs of young players as possible. The Federation hopes that with the development of the project, certified entities will also increase their standards and quality of operation.

The call for proposals for the next cycle of the programme in Poland (for the years 2020-22) will start soon.