Football
ESPN staff 6y

Wembley sale money must boost clubs' youth and community work - EFL chief

The chief executive of the English Football League (EFL) has told the Times that the Football Association must distribute half the money from the sale of Wembley to clubs in the EFL and the Premier League.

Shahid Khan, the owner of Fulham and the Jacksonville Jaguars, has made the Football Association an £800 million offer to purchase the 80,000-seat stadium.

EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said funds from the sale would help clubs in the EFL, boosting their community work and youth football programmes.

"Under the current distribution mechanism, the professional game is entitled to 50 percent of the proceeds after central costs have been met," Harvey said.

"Any move away from this principle will only be achieved if we can be satisfied that the money will be properly utilised for the benefit of the game as a whole in England, including at our clubs.

"The 72 clubs of the EFL, along with those in the Premier League, already do a tremendous amount of work through their community schemes at a grassroots level.

"The creation of a fund to develop facilities for the expansion of this work along with training of young players within each club's academy would be an ideal use of any funds, as would seeing the money used to improve stadium facilities for fans."

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has also called for assurances that England internationals and cup finals would continue to be held at the North London stadium if a sale goes through.

"Taxpayers' money was used for Wembley and we want to make sure that cup finals take place at Wembley," Khan said.

"Also, it's the home of England and those assurances are really important, so my team will be asking the FA those sorts of questions."

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee will hold a one-off evidence session on the future of Wembley on July 18.

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