Football ambassadors who will lobby for funding for local sports projects are one of the benefits set to come from a new agreement between sports charity, the Football Foundation and global sports brand, Nike.

The two organisations have teamed up to run a number of initiatives aiming to boost community sport, including the Nike Player Panel, which will be piloted next year.

The scheme will see four footballers, based in four regions, will become Football Foundation Ambassadors, charged with helping community sports projects get funding.

Clubs and schools will also be able to apply for football strips on the Junior Kit Scheme, via the Football Foundation’s website. The Foundation will also be helping to promote Nike’s global competition “Sport for a better world”.

Chief executive of the Football Foundation, Paul Thorogood, said: “We are two organisations very much on the same wavelength when it comes to understanding the potential to change society for the better through the power of sport.”

The two organisations have worked together on a number of projects in the past, including the Nike Grind community sports pitches, made up of rubber surfaces which use components from recycled Nike trainers, and the Stand Up Speak Up anti-racism programme.