Vanarama National League welcomes Premier League's extra funding

The Premier League has committed to a further £20 million for League One and Two clubs in the 2021/22 season, along with £5m to National League and National League North and South clubs between now and 2025.

This is in addition to the existing financial support the League already provides to the football pyramid.

The Vanarama National League issued a statement that said: "The National League Board is delighted to receive news from the Premier League of fresh Covid Impact Funding to assist all our member clubs.

"This additional funding forms part of the Exclusion Order agreement with Government relating to the three-year renewal of the Premier League’s UK live and non-live broadcast rights.

"The League will receive an additional £5m funding over the next four seasons; with £2m this season in recognition of the extra pressure on clubs due to the pandemic with an additional £1m for each of the following three seasons.

"The National League Board has met to consider the immediate distribution of this additional £2m funding and decided that this should be divided as 50 per-cent to Step 1 and 50 per-cent to Step 2."

National League Chairman Jack Pearce said: “The National League has been in regular discussion with the Premier League and other football organisations to discuss funding throughout the game.

"This latest announcement is brilliant news for National League clubs for which we, as a competition, are extremely grateful.

“We welcome this new funding which comes after the Premier League assisted with the provision of valuable financial support during the pandemic that was crucial to the livelihood of clubs.

"The impact of COVID-19 was particularly severe at our level of the game and this new commitment is a timely boost which will aid clubs in their recovery and enable them to plan for the future.”