The Football Foundation is to invest 40 per cent of its total funding over the next three years in multi-sport facility projects.

Worth a projected £92m and running until 2025, the investment will create facilities designed to support both football and additional sports – such as rugby, cricket, netball, and basketball.

The multi-sport commitment includes the creation of a network of Football Foundation PlayZones, the first of which are set to open in 2023.

PlayZones are small-sided sports facilities designed to provide accessible outdoor facilities that bring communities together through recreational forms of football and a range of other sports.

The Football Foundation is funded by the government, the Football Association and The English Premier League.

Sports Minister, Nigel Huddleston, said: "We're committed to improving access to good quality sports facilities and levelling up opportunities for people to get involved in sport.

“Coupled with the £230m investment we are making to build or improve up to 8,000 grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025, this commitment from the Football Foundation will be transformational.

“This shows what can happen when we work together with football and our partners at the Premier League and The FA.”

The multi-sport strategy at the Football Foundation has three key areas of work.

These are an increase in Football Foundation funding into multisport facilities, a commitment to improve grass pitches used by football and rugby and the creation of PlayZones.

Currently, around 30 per cent of Football Foundation investment goes into projects that host an additional one or more activities.

This commitment will be increased to 40 per cent by 2025.

Gareth Southgate, the manager of the England men's national football team, attended the revealing of the new funding structure.

“The Football Foundation does so much more than helping communities improve their local football facilities and its new commitment to multi-sport facility funding marks an exciting time for grassroots sport across the country," Southgate said.