Budweiser have announced Basford United as one of eight recipients of a ?50,000 grant as part of its Club Futures programme.

Budweiser Club Futures, which is in its second season, will help non-league side Basford United, who play in?Toolstation Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division, make a huge reduction on their carbon footprint as they review their electricity setup. Further to this an irrigation system drawing off the local River Leen will be installed in a bid to bolster the club's ecological credentials.

The ambition of Budweiser Club Futures is to help clubs to help themselves, with the grant recipients using their funding to improve their general facilities and make their club more financially sustainable. These funds support the clubs to be at the heart of their communities, helping to ensure the future of the beautiful game at the grassroots level across the UK.

Budweiser Club Futures has also been supported by the Football Foundation, who helped decide the grant recipients, and The FA Facilities and Investment team, who provided advice and guidance to the non-league clubs applying. The programme has now invested a total of ?1million directly into 16 non-league football clubs in the UK over the last two seasons.

Basford United is now in with a chance of winning an additional ?100,000 Super Grant which will top up their funding to a total of ?150,000 following a vote by football fans on Facebook. The voting opens in January 2014 on the Budweiser UK and FA Cup Facebook pages*.

Chris Munroe, General Manger at Basford United, said: "There is an overriding feeling of gratitude and delight at Basford United upon hearing this news. This grant from Budweiser enables us to make significant improvements to our facilities, which goes hand in hand with our medium term objective to increase local participation in football."

Budweiser Club Futures ambassador, Alan Pardew, said: "Having plied my trade in non-league football, I am under no illusions as to the graft and dedication required to sustain a local club.

"As Budweiser Club Futures ambassador for a second season, I have seen first-hand the difference the funding has made to last year's recipients. Once again, we received some brilliant and inspiring applications. This is great to see as it reinforces the passion that these clubs have to grow and achieve their ambitions."

"Basford United's application was outstanding, and to think they could add a further super grant of ?100,000 means that Chris and his staff have an exciting few months ahead."

Budweiser Senior Brand Manager, Christian Flouch, said: "Non-league clubs are the backbone of the beautiful game in this country, and often of their local communities too. Whether the money goes towards resurrecting clubs on the brink of extinction or fulfilling their dreams of climbing the football pyramid, watching them flourish as a result of Budweiser Club Futures is fantastic. Congratulations to Basford United and we look forward to seeing the results of the grant award."

The 2013/14 grant recipients, all in steps 5-7 of the English football pyramid, are:
Bedfont Sports FC - London
East Grinstead Town FC - South East
Parley Sports Club - South West
Bromsgrove Sporting FC - West Midlands
Basford United - East Midlands
Handsworth Junior Sporting Club - North East
Wythenshawe Amateurs FC - North West
Linton Granta FC - East

All clubs that have applied for grants over the two seasons' have received 'Running a Sustainable Club', a guidance booklet to help them become more sustainable.

For more information on The FA Cup with Budweiser and 'Budweiser Club Futures' please visit www.TheFA.com/TheFACup.

For more information on The FA Cup with Budweiser visit www.facebook.com/budweiseruk and youtube.budweiser.co.uk.

* Terms and conditions apply. Please see www.facebook.com/budweiseruk or www.facebook.com/thefacup from January 2014 for details.