A 24-year-old man has been imprisoned for 32 months after defrauding the Football Foundation of £200,000.
Fraser White made 34 false grant applications claiming to be for nine real football clubs and was awarded almost £200,000, all of which he spent himself.
Media reports state he spent £7,000 on designer clothes and used the funds to attend the Qatar World Cup and other football games abroad.
White had been a director of the All Star Football Academy in Maidenhead since 2018 and had also been a ticketing executive for Reading Football Club for 11 months.
White pleaded guilty at Slough Magistrates Court earlier this year and was sentenced to imprisonment on 12 September at Reading Crown Court.
He has also been disqualified from being a company director for 10 years under the Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
Robert Sullivan, CEO of the Football Foundation, said: “I would like to credit the brilliant work of the team at the Foundation.
“Whilst balancing our ambition to quickly get money out to communities, they did notice anomalies in applications.
“These anomalies were investigated further and with legal guidance, we started building a case. I am happy to write today that the individual involved has been brought to justice. It’s been a challenging incident but I am pleased that our process and systems have done their job. We will not tolerate fraud and we will take action wherever we see it.
“Finally we should remember that the ultimate victims of the fraud are the clubs that are in the heart of their communities, the players, coaches and volunteers who may have lost out on funding because of this individual's actions to acquire funds fraudulently. We will continue to do everything we can to support them, because everyone deserves a great place to play.”
