Club secretaries, managers and coaches can now organise matches and training more easily thanks to an FA initiative alongside PayPal - the free FA Matchday app - which is helping to reduce the admin time needed to run a grassroots football team.

The app is enabling over a million grassroots players to pay their match fees with their smartphones, plus users can now make annual and instalment payments. This is a major benefit, especially for parents and guardians involved with youth teams. Future updates to the app will also include direct debit and billing agreements.

The partnership between The FA and PayPal sees the two organisations collaborate on further initiatives to support grassroots football. Freeing-up time previously spent on admin tasks paves the way for coaches and managers to focus on their players and team's progress plus selecting their line-ups, enhancing their grassroots football experience.

The app automates many tasks and can assist with notifying a squad who’s in the team, where the next game is and what time it kicks-off. Managers will see if anyone is currently suspended and this is all in a safe and secure environment backed by The FA, who’ll also ensure it has up-to-date, comprehensive information on players, clubs, fixtures and leagues.

England Men’s Manager, Gareth Southgate, has reflected on his own grassroots experience, from his first taste of the beautiful game as a young player to helping coach his son’s team. These experiences shaped Southgate’s view on the importance of role models within the game, but also his understanding of the off-pitch challenges which are part and parcel of grassroots sport.

He said: “To be able to transfer funds at the push of a button will be absolute heaven for clubs up and down the country. The app is a tool that will save people hours of administration and follow-up. It’s not just matchdays, it’s making sure you’ve got officials available, reporting the scoreline. To be able to do that all in one place, and on the move, makes such a difference.”

In order to use the app, users need to be ‘Matchday ready’. This means their league register their players via the FA Whole Game System (WGS), their team have a manager or coach assigned to them in WGS and The FA have an E-Mail Address for them in their system.

Full details on the FA Matchday app can be found here. Find out how to become matchday ready at www.thefa.com/get-involved/matchday. To see how PayPal are supporting football, visit www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/grassroots.