Department for Culture Media and Sport

professional sport

Each professional sport in the UK is run by a National Governing Body (NGB) or a professional league. These bodies set the rules, promote the sport, develop prospective players, and organise major events. They support local clubs, are often responsible for national teams, and run coaching programmes.

The major NGBs and Leagues we have links with are:

Our aim is to work closely with these bodies to:

  • advise on Government policy issues which impact on professional sports
  • help them operate traditional sports in a commercial environment
  • encourage them to govern their sport better
  • encourage increased participation in those sports
  • contribute funding, in partnership with the FA and Premier League, to the Football Foundation to improve grass roots sports facilities

We also aim to:

  • raise awareness of professional women’s sport
  • support the bodies in tackling inequalities in and through sport

We have strong links to the following organisations:

Our business plan contains a commitment to helping to make the UK an attractive place to invest by bidding for major sporting events. In delivering this, we work closely with UK Sport and the NGBs to help to bring major events to the UK. Forthcoming events that we are hosting or are bidding to host, include:

  • World Badminton Championships 2011
  • Rugby League World Cup 2013
  • ICC Champions Trophy 2013
  • Rugby World Cup 2015
  • Cricket World Cup 2019