Sports club grants in France: how to fund the kit?

Sports club grants in France: how to fund the kit?

Kitting out the whole club in its colours without emptying the bank account is possible. A French sports club's grants (federation, FDVA, town hall, département) fund projects, running costs, sometimes equipment; kit only if the scheme's rules allow it. The tknp.io Store's pre-order funds the rest.

In short:

• The Projet sportif fédéral (PSF), awarded by your federation from the funds of the Agence nationale du Sport (the French National Sports Agency), funds the club's projects, with a minimum of €750 per project and €1,500 per application in 2026 (€500 and €1,000 in an under-served area).
• The FDVA "running costs and innovation" strand supports the general running of small and medium French associations, sports clubs included.
• The Pass'Sport takes €50 off a young person's registration, but pays for no sports equipment.
• What a grant does not cover, members can reserve and pay for themselves on the tknp.io Store, with nothing advanced by the club.

The committee's back-to-season meeting. The club wants its own custom kit: a hoodie for its members, a training t-shirt, an outfit for the volunteers at the side of the pitch, and the question comes up: who pays? The first instinct of the chair or the treasurer: apply for a sports club grant. Before filling in an application, it pays to know what each French scheme funds, what it leaves out, and what the team's kit really costs.

Which grants can a sports club apply for in France?

A French sports club set up as a declared association and registered in the Sirene business register can apply for a grant, in cash or in kind, from the State, its agencies and local authorities: the municipality, the département (county council) and the region. The grant can fund a project, an investment, the development of activities or the club's general running costs.

None is a right: French law defines a grant as an optional contribution, awarded in the general interest. Here are the main French schemes, and what each one funds.

What does the Projet sportif fédéral (PSF) fund?

The Projet sportif fédéral (PSF) is the grant from the Agence nationale du Sport (ANS, formerly the CNDS) whose budget each French federation shares out among its affiliated clubs, leagues and committees, to fund the year's projects. In 2026 the national budget reaches €70 million, and each federation must give its clubs at least half of its share.

The Agency asks each PSF project to include at least two national priorities: women's sport, para sport and access to sport for people far from it, health through sport, the environment and adapting to climate change, the fight against violence and the regional pathway to elite sport. In 2026 the grant amount cannot fall below €750 per project and €1,500 per application, or €500 and €1,000 for a club in an under-served area (excluding priority urban districts and "cités éducatives").

To apply, the Agence nationale du Sport's PSF page asks you first to contact your federation's PSF contact: each federation publishes a framework note with its priorities, rules and timetable, and the application is then filed on Le Compte Asso, the French government's online portal for associations. The Agency's 2026 note says nothing about kit: ask your contact before putting it in a project's budget.

Can the FDVA help a small sports club?

Yes: the "running costs and innovation" strand of the FDVA (the French fund for the development of associations) funds the general running or innovative projects of small and medium associations, sports associations included. In 2025 the French State supported 22,063 associations, with "a low average grant of €2,230" according to the ministry, and sport tops the list of sectors supported.

The club must be run democratically, hold its statutory meetings regularly, manage its money transparently and sign the "contrat d'engagement républicain" (the French republican commitment contract) when it applies. The application is filed on Le Compte Asso, in response to your département's call for projects. The FDVA's volunteer-training strand, on the other hand, is not open to sports associations that can get State support to train their volunteers.

Can a grant pay for the club's kit?

A grant only pays for a club's kit if the scheme's rules say so. The French national texts examined on 21 October 2026 do not mention kit: the Agence nationale du Sport's 2026 PSF note does not, the sheets of its five 2026 equipment schemes target facilities and specialised equipment, with a minimum request of €10,000 to €100,000 depending on the scheme, and the Pass'Sport rules out any equipment purchase. For the FDVA and running-costs grants, no text we read says whether they can pay for kit: the question goes to the office that handles the call for projects.

Local authorities set their own rules. The Puy-de-Dôme département council, for example, funds 25% of the price including VAT of the sports equipment needed for its discipline by a club based in the Puy-de-Dôme and affiliated to a national sports federation, for an investment of at least €600 including VAT, counted up to €8,000 including VAT, once every two years. Its rules, adopted on 19 March 2024, state that clothing is eligible if it is mentioned in the sports federations' regulations. A club hoodie or a supporter's t-shirt therefore only qualifies if a federation's rules mention it: ask the département before costing it.

Then there is the type of grant: a grant awarded for a specific project is spent on that project, and the financial report will have to prove it. Hoodies paid for with a funded project's money must therefore appear in that project's budget.

Can the Pass'Sport be used to buy kit?

No: the Pass'Sport "cannot be used to buy sports equipment", its official French website states. It is an immediate €50 reduction on a young person's registration with a partner club, membership or subscription, valid from 1 September to 31 December 2026.

For the 2026-2027 season it is open to young people aged 6 to 17 whose household has a CAF or MSA family quotient (the French family benefits index) of €699 or less, to young people with disabilities (aged 6 to 19 with the AEEH allowance, 16 to 30 with the AAH allowance) and to students on grants up to the age of 28. The Pass'Sport lightens a family's membership fee: it helps the club welcome people, not kit them out.

How do you apply for a grant on Le Compte Asso?

A French State grant application for a sports club, PSF or FDVA, is filed online on Le Compte Asso, the public service for associations' formalities; its online form is based on the Cerfa 12156*03 form. Local authorities sometimes have their own procedure: the Puy-de-Dôme asks for a letter, quotes including VAT, bank details and the club's SIRET or SIREN number (its French business register number).

1. Check the club's registration. The French public service website states that any declared association registered in the Sirene register can apply for a grant; Le Compte Asso lets you get that number.
2. Find the right door: your federation's PSF contact, your département's FDVA call for projects, or the sports department of the town hall and the département.
3. Prepare the grant application file: articles of association, declaration receipt, Sirene number, bank details, the project description and its detailed budget. Kit only appears in it if the scheme's rules allow it.
4. File before the deadline, then wait for the decision.

When should you apply to kit out the team for the new season?

A sports club grant is prepared several months before the season: in 2026, the deadlines for the FDVA "running costs and innovation" strand fell between 2 February and 31 March depending on the département, and each federation sets its PSF timetable in its framework note. For kit worn at the start of the season, the application is therefore put together in winter.

For the kit, allow this lead time: a pre-order stays open 7 to 21 days, and delivery comes about three weeks after it ends; a direct order leaves within 10 working days on the standard option, 5 on rush, and the basket gives an estimated delivery date. Keep an eye on cash flow too: at tknp.io the order is paid online and no production starts before payment, while a grant paid on invoice, like the Puy-de-Dôme's, arrives after the purchase.

What must a club account for after a grant?

A club that receives a grant for a specific project submits a financial report within six months of the end of the financial year concerned: this document proves that the spending matches the purpose of the grant. Above €23,000, an agreement also sets the purpose, the amount, and the terms of payment and use.

For the PSF, this report goes through Le Compte Asso: in 2026, a 2024 beneficiary that had not sent it that way was no longer eligible, and 2025 beneficiaries had until 30 June 2026. Keep every kit invoice: the Puy-de-Dôme pays its equipment grant on presentation of the invoices and of compliance with the communication obligations tied to the grant.

How much does kit cost for a club of 25 or 50 members?

At tknp.io, for guidance only and at the standard lead time, kitting out 25 members with a custom training t-shirt and hoodie bearing the club's logo comes to €649.75 excluding VAT, shipping extra, one position, base colours, usual sizes, in our 21 October 2026 price check; 50 members, €1,230.50 excluding VAT. The calculation uses two product pages: the Cool T, a polyester sports t-shirt by Just Cool (140 g/m²), decorated with an A6-size DTF transfer, and the College Hoodie by Just Hoods (280 g/m², 80% cotton), with 8 × 10 cm of embroidery over the heart.

Table drawn up on 21 October 2026 from the tknp.io product pages, for guidance only: the price of the decorated garment, decoration included, excluding VAT with shipping on top, at the standard lead time, one position, base colours and the usual sizes, and, as the product pages say, the larger sizes and some colours are a little dearer from the brand. Only the quote is binding. Minimum: 10 decorated garments per model, mixing sizes and colours freely, and the tier counts the total of one model, even in two colours, as long as the logo stays the same.

What the grant does not pay for: the club's pre-order on the tknp.io Store

The kit and club merch that no grant funds, members can pay for themselves, without the club advancing a cent. On the tknp.io Store, the club launches a free pre-order campaign of 7 to 21 days, each member reserves and pays for their kit, and we produce one run, priced at the volume reached; the full process is in our guide to the club's online shop, on pre-order. Opening a Store is reserved for verified pro accounts, and an organisation is verified with its SIREN number or its European VAT number: a club registered in the Sirene register for its grant applications already has that number.

The gap between the members' price and our volume-reached price makes up a pot that the club can put, for example, towards its coaches' hoodies; what a campaign earns is set out in our guide to selling association t-shirts. If a grant pays for part of the run, the club can also collect its members' money itself: we then invoice the club for the run, an invoice to keep for the grant's report. And if a local company pays for some of the hoodies in exchange for its logo, that is sponsorship: the club's brand guidelines decide where that logo goes.