FA to make 124 jobs redundant because of coronavirus impact

The FA has its headquarters at Wembley Stadium and St George's Park

The Football Association is to make 124 positions redundant because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

English football's governing body - a not-for-profit organisation - says it is planning for potential financial losses of about £300m.

Eighty-two staff members will lose their jobs, while 42 vacancies will not be filled.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said the organisation faced a "significant" financial challenge.

"It might seem that football has weathered the storm by getting the top flight men's game playing again," he said.

"However, unfortunately the past few months have impacted the FA severely and we have lost a significant amount of money that we can never recoup.

"We also anticipate that many of our future revenue streams will be affected for a considerable time."

The FA has lost all revenue from events due to be held at Wembley Stadium since March, and from events, such as music concerts and NFL matches, which the stadium was set to host later this year.

In addition, it has lost all revenue from hospitality - about £35m per year - at Wembley, which it anticipates "will probably take years to recover".

"Proposing redundancies is the toughest cost-saving measure that any organisation can consider implementing, but we believe that we must now adapt and future-proof the organisation to ensure our cost base reflects a future with significantly lower revenues," said Bullingham.

"We have a responsibility to preserve our core functions that regulate and serve English football. We also have a duty to support our men's and women's senior teams in their efforts to win major tournaments.

"That means we have set out in our proposals some difficult choices because we do not think we can afford to do all the things that we did before. We believe the impact of this crisis is to force us to focus more than ever on our key priorities."

He added: "The next few weeks will be very tough for everyone at the FA and our aim is to ensure that we emerge in the strongest possible state and be ready for better times in the future."

In the FA's financial statements to the year ending 31 July 2019, its directors were remunerated £1.1m.

Former chief executive Martin Glenn earned £814,000 while chairman Greg Clarke was paid £184,000.