Story added: 17th December 2025

The Community Sports Foundation: 2025 in Review

With 2024 having broken new ground, smashed previous records and welcomed plenty of new faces, 2025 had a lot to live up to here at the Community Sports Foundation – but it certainly didn’t disappoint.

A year of impact

Football unites people, breaks down barriers, and changes lives. This year, we’ve brought that power into our community—reaching over 54,000 people and delivering more than 10,000 sessions in partnership with groups like the Canaries Trust and Fans Social Club.

The numbers tell one story, but the real impact lies in the people whose lives have been touched.

JANUARY

January started the way all new years should begin – with smiles on faces and dreams being fulfilled. A group of six Foundation participants and Norwich City fans were taken to the Avant Training Centre for the Foundation’s annual Wish Day, spending time watching their Canary superstars train, before meeting them face-to face for selfies and autographs.

The first month of 2025 also saw some exciting changes back at Carrow Road, as the Foundation opened it’s brand new Support Hub for the first time. Created as part of the charities’ new Healthy Fans initiative, the Support Hub has since offered health and wellbeing support to hundreds of fans attending a Carrow Road match day.

FEBRUARY

Whilst the introduction of the Support Hub at Carrow Road was an exciting change as far as new projects were concerned, the early-year renovations were far from over. Less than a week later, The Nest officially cut the ribbon on its newest builds, The Box and The Store.

There was further The Nest-based action in February, as both the Premier League Primary Stars National Girls tournament and the NFYL League Cup semi-final were hosted on the community hubs’ Stadium 3G pitch.

MARCH

March was a month of celebrating success, as the Foundation secured a monumental £90,000 from the Sky Bet EFL Building Foundations Fund to put towards our newly-formed MyClub Volunteer Scheme.

There were also some significant individual achievements, as Foundation Down Syndrome Head Coach Clive Howard was presented with the Premier League Community Captain Award by Norwich City’s Ben Chrisene, for his outstanding commitment to the disability football teams.

In March, we also celebrated International Women’s Day, with over 100 girls from local high schools attending The Nest for a day of educational, football-themed fun.

APRIL

A successful start to 2025 showed no sign of stopping – in early April, representatives from the Foundation were in London for the EFL awards ceremony, in which Norwich City won a ground-breaking double. City defender Jack Stacey picked up EFL Community Player of the Season, with Norwich City securing EFL Community Club of the Season.

Back in Norfolk, a group of fundraising fanatics embarked on a crazy challenge – walking 150 miles in just 60 hours. Through day and night the team walked, battling against tired bodies and minds, all whilst raising money for the Foundation and Big C Cancer Charity. In total, the challenge raised over £27,000.

April also saw a busy month of tournament football at The Nest, with the highlight being the return of the Premier League Kicks Cup.

MAY

In May there were special celebrations at Duncan’s Club, as participants recognised the 80th anniversary of the VE Day, a day that is of particular significance to many of those attending our dementia support group.

There was further footballing success during the month of May, as the 2024/25 Football & Education Girls cohort became the first Norwich City FE group to ever win their league, following a 3-0 victory against Queens Park Rangers.

JUNE

The celebration of our Armed Forces took centre stage during the month of June, as we hosted only our second ever Armed Forces Day at The Nest. The event saw veterans, serving personnel, cadets and reservists come together to celebrate the outstanding contribution of Armed Forces both in our community and across the country.

With June also marking the beginning of our events season, it was all-action out on the Norfolk coastline, as 60 hardy fundraisers took on our annual Race Against the Sun challenge.

For those who preferred to take on their fundraising challenge on two wheels, June also saw the return of Cycle Swarm, as over 140 cyclists braved the midsummer heat to raise over £5,500 for the Foundation.

JULY

A busy June quickly merged into a busy July, with a new cohort of fantastic fundraisers preparing to embark on a series of epic challenges not just in Norfolk but across the country.

The first ever Norfolk Public Sector Challenge saw 120 public sector workers take to the Norfolk coastline for some long-distance walking in the summer sunshine, raising over £12,000 for the Foundation.

Far away from Norfolk and in much damper conditions, a team of hardy hikers took on our annual Three Peaks Challenge, scaling Scafell Pike, Snowden and Ben Nevis in relentless wind and rain.

AUGUST

August saw a famous face return to her home county, as two-time European champion Lauren Hemp surprised participants on our ‘Girls Only’ Soccer School at The Nest. Fresh from winning her second Women’s Euros in Switzerland, Hemp’s appearance was a real magical moment, as the hundreds of aspiring footballers in attendance met one of their real-life role models.

A month of celebration, August also saw us host our first ever Family Fun Day at Lotus HQ, celebrating the clubs recent success as EFL Community Club of the Season.

With summer drawing to a close, there were further player appearances at our ever-popular Soccer Schools, with current Canaries Ruairi McConville, Jacob Wright, Freya Symonds and Grace Riglar amongst those making surprise visits.

SEPTEMBER

The start of autumn could only mean one thing – the return of Run Norwich. On the 7th September, a record-breaking 7800 people took to the streets of Norwich for the events tenth year, filling the streets of our fine city with noise and colour.

There was further award-winning for the Foundation during the month of September, as our Tackle Learning provision picked up first place in the annual Flourish Awards ceremony.

29th September also marked the start of an epic five-day road trip, as a team of fuelled-up fundraisers got behind the wheel of their cars and embarked on the 2025 Canaryball Rally.

OCTOBER

There were further trips overseas in October, as boys and girls from our football pathways headed to Lille in France for a development tour.

Back in Norfolk, The Nest played host to the EFL Utilita Under 13 Girls Cup, with Lynn Grove Academy and Hethersett Academy progressing to the regional tournament, which is set to be hosted early next year.

There was a Halloween surprise for autumn Soccer Schools participants, as Norwich City superstars Jakov Medic and Oscar Schwartau arrived at Ketts Park to offer some footballing wisdom from the sidelines.

NOVEMBER

In November, we launched our all-new Youth Voice Council for the first time; a group of young, motivated individuals looking to have a positive impact on their local community.

The eleventh month also saw the final fundraising event of the year, as the ever-popular On the Buzzer, City! quiz returned to The Lion & Castle for a night of brain-teasing fun and excitement.

In the build-up to Remembrance Day, there was a special moment at our Coffee & Comrades provision, as Norwich City Academy youngsters met with the veterans and participants to share the outstanding fundraising work they had put in to support the growth and development of the programme.

DECEMBER

This month, we relaunched our restructured inclusive disability and SEND provision for the first time as ‘Realising Potential‘, a change that was implemented by the feedback we gathered from staff, participants and carers.

There was also exciting news regarding the Foundation’s match day Support Hub, as Reed Wellbeing confirmed their fortnightly attendance at Carrow Road to deliver free NHS health checks.

OVERALL HIGHLIGHTS:

This year had our highest-ever third-year degree grades this year, and record numbers of students starting in 2025, as well as the launch of our Sports Coaching Programme.

In 2025, our fundraisers travelled over 81,318 miles. Whether it was walking, running, cycling or driving, their contribution has made a huge difference to our wonderful community. The total distance covered by these superstars is over 3 times around the world!