The National Football Museum in Manchester was the venue for this week's celebration event to showcase how the Premier League and clubs have a positive impact on football and communities across the North West of England.
Community participants, club and charity organisation staff, former players, MPs, police representatives and wider stakeholders were at the More Than A Game event to highlight the importance of funding in providing young people with opportunities to reach their potential as well as creating safe places to play.
The Premier League has committed £1.6billion of investment into the wider game and communities between 2022 and 2025.
Of this amount, £500m goes to funding projects including grassroots and non-league facilities, community and education programmes and youth development.
It is the biggest voluntary contribution to communities and other good causes of any football league in the world.
The Premier League's financial support covers all 92 Premier League and EFL clubs and 72 National League clubs, as well as women and girls' football and the grassroots game.
Arissa, Manchester United Foundation's More Than A Game Community Captain (above), was one of the guests at the celebration and she explained to attendees the impact that being involved in Premier League-funded activity has had on her life.
"I struggled a lot in school, so I started skipping lessons," she says. "Then I met Lauren who worked for the Manchester United Foundation, and we connected over my love of football.
Read more: Fernandes presents Arissa with Community Captain award
"She introduced me to Premier League Kicks. I've been doing it for five years and everyone I've met there has saved me in some kind of way.
"The simplest thing I can say is thank you. If I could change a young person's life like my life was changed I'd always be grateful. I think what Manchester United Foundation do is incredible and is changing lives."
Arissa is one of more than 400,000 participants to have taken part in Premier League-funded community activity in the North West of England to date.
She was joined on a panel at the event by Josh (below), a former Premier League Kicks pan-ability participant at Blackpool FC Community Trust, who, after progressing to a volunteer role, is a paid casual member of staff.
"I get to support kids through similar issues that I faced when I was younger," he says. "I help provide one-to-one support and a safe space for kids of all abilities. The Premier League Kicks sessions helped me feel more confident in talking with people, which has supported the role I do now."
Josh is not alone in giving back to the community who once supported him, as nearly 20 per cent of Premier League Kicks participants are now part of the programme's workforce.
Of the more than 6,000 strong club charity employees within the network, more than 1,000 of these are based at club charity organisations across the North West.
In a lengthy career at clubs such as Everton, Sheffield United and Stoke City, former Premier League defender Phil Jagielka is fully aware of how clubs in the region have an impact in their local communities.
"Every single club has got some form of community project and the amount of help that goes on out there, this would not be able to continue year after year without the help of the Premier League," he says.
"We all know about how good the football side of the Premier League is, and we see the glamour of the football business. Outside of that, where it's actually a lot tougher and a lot harder to do things, without the Premier League's money and support a lot of this community work wouldn't exist."
