UEFA Research Grants on European Football

The UEFA RGP is a prestigious grant programme designed for academics working in partnership with national associations to deliver research that improves strategic decision-making in European football.

Overview

The UEFA RGP has been established to support visionary research on European football. It is for anyone working on, or already holding, a PhD who is analysing European football from a variety of academic disciplines. Once completed, the research is shared with the 55 UEFA member associations and is used for growth and development purposes. Grant applicants must submit a recommendation letter from a UEFA member association, thus ensuring that their project is undertaken in line with contemporary issues and has the highest practical value possible.

In order to foster cooperation between its member associations and European universities, UEFA allows up to three researchers based in the territories of three different national associations to submit joint applications.

Each individual project selected by the UEFA Research Grant Jury is eligible for a grant of up to €15,000 and each joint project for a grant of up to €20,000 for a nine-month research period.

Priority topic for the 26/27 cycle: Researchers are invited to submit proposals investigating how relative age, maturation and mixed training models interact to influence physical development pathways, training responsiveness and long‑term athlete development in youth football. A detailed brief on this priority topic is available for download in the Files section.

Important notice: Please note that as of 2023, research projects on medical topics are no longer accepted for the UEFA Research Grant Programme. Academics working on medical and health related research can apply to the UEFA Medical Research Grant Programme (UEFA MRGP), a specific scheme, tailor-made to medical topics and under the management of UEFA’s medical unit.