University of Birmingham and Birmingham City FC mark anniversaries with strategic alliance
Strategic alliance will create new opportunities in research, education and health, and raise aspirations across Birmingham, enhancing the city’s reputation.
Strategic alliance will create new opportunities in research, education and health, and raise aspirations across Birmingham, enhancing the city’s reputation.
(Left to right): Professor Adam Tickell (Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham); Amy Merricks (Women's Head Coach, Birmingham City FC); Professor Deborah Longworth (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Education), and Chris Davies (Men's First Team Manager, Birmingham City FC).
The University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Football Club (BCFC) have announced a strategic alliance, bringing together two of Birmingham’s most iconic institutions around a shared ambition for the city’s success. The alliance, which comes as the University and BCFC celebrate their 125th and 150th anniversaries, will create opportunities in research, education and health, raise aspirations across Birmingham, and enhance the city’s reputation on the global stage.
Ranked sixth in the QS World University Rankings for sport, the University will deliver performance gains from the BCFC Academy to the Women's and Men's First Teams. Using expertise across data science, physical performance, medicine, coaching, psychology and rehabilitation, the alliance will drive forward new and smarter ways of working. Alongside this, the University community of 40,000 students and 8,000 staff will have access to a local football club, providing internships, job opportunities and entertainment in a truly collaborative way.
With long-established roots in Birmingham allied to a global outlook and reach, we see strong connections and opportunities with BCFC.
The alliance will also focus on health inequalities, enabling trusted reach into under-served Birmingham neighbourhoods, where life expectancy is currently among the lowest in the country. The work of the University’s experts, aligned with Birmingham Health Partners and the government’s new priorities for the NHS, will focus on early detection of ill health and unlocking access to clinical trials, alongside learning from the local community how its healthcare needs are best addressed.
University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Tickell said: “With long-established roots in Birmingham allied to a global outlook and reach, we see strong connections and opportunities with BCFC. We will work together, using our expertise to help the club advance its mission to become a ‘beacon of excellence for Birmingham on the global stage’. We are looking forward to playing our part in this success story for our region.”
BCFC’s Academy will benefit from a sophisticated character education programme, developed by the University, to ensure that a pipeline of young, talented footballers are prepared to cope with the psychological demands of elite-level sport. This same programme will be applied through the Club’s Foundation and implemented in the work it does in the city’s schools.
The University and BCFC will also partner in the areas of media and storytelling, expanding the narrative of what makes Birmingham great and taking this story to a larger global audience. Students studying for degrees in digital media and communications and in creative industries will have the opportunity to work with the football club on a range of projects. The combined efforts of two pillars of the city will enrich, promote and enhance Birmingham as a global destination for education and sport.
(Left to right): Jonty Castle (Chief Commercial and Operations Officer); Amy Merricks (Women's Head Coach, Birmingham City FC); Professor Adam Tickell (Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham); Chris Davies (Men's First Team Manager, Birmingham City FC); Professor Deborah Longworth (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Education), and John Clarke (Chief Fan Experience Officer).
To commemorate the start of the alliance, the Birmingham City Women’s team Championship match versus Sheffield United on 16 February 2025 has been designated ‘University of Birmingham Day’. All University staff and students are invited to attend the game as guests of BCFC.
Professor Deborah Longworth, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Education added: “We have a long and proud history of sporting success, from offering the UK’s first sport science degree course in 1946 and research into rehabilitation, physical activity and sport performance, to staff, students and alumni competing at an international level, most recently at the Olympic and Paralympics Games in Paris last summer. This collaboration has huge potential for us, BCFC and the wider Birmingham community.”
Jeremy Dale, Interim Chief Executive Officer at Birmingham City said: “The University of Birmingham is recognised as one of the leading institutions of knowledge and research. To tap into that incredible organisation and work with them to make us smarter and accelerate our progression is so very exciting. When you are transforming a city through a football club, you need transformative partnerships, and this is certainly one. Together we can raise the profile of Birmingham on the global stage and do so in a way that will benefit the city. It is another example of Birmingham on the rise.”
The University of Birmingham is recognised as one of the leading institutions of knowledge and research. To tap into that incredible organisation and work with them to make us smarter and accelerate our progression is so very exciting.
Ranked 80th in the 2025 QS World University Rankings and 93rd in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the University of Birmingham is one of the world’s leading universities. Proud to be rooted in of one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the country, the University worked with London Economics to calculate its contribution to the regional and national economies.
Based on data from the 2021-22 academic year, the University’s total economic and social impact is £4.4 billion, supporting nearly 20,000 FTE jobs in the UK. More than 13,000 of those are in the West Midlands, with 1 in 50 jobs in Birmingham being directly provided by the University.
BCFC’s mission is to be a beacon of excellence for Birmingham on the global stage through the four pillars of Football, Community, Infrastructure and Commercial. This continues the blue thread started nearly 150 years ago and is driven by Chairman of the Board, Tom Wagner, and Board Member and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Dale, with the support of seven-time Superbowl champion and Chairman of the Advisory Board, Tom Brady.
BCFC sits at the heart of the community in Birmingham through its activity on the pitch and the important work of the Birmingham City Foundation. It also has plans for a £2-3 billion Sports Quarter in Birmingham and is attracting global brands as it becomes an influencer of economic growth and a destination of choice for outstanding talent.
In 2025, the University of Birmingham celebrates 125 years of driving change and shaping society. Ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, educators and more than 40,000 students from over 150 countries.
The University of Birmingham commissioned London Economics to assess its social and economic impact, focusing on the 2021-22 academic year. It found that the research-intensive University’s total economic impact is estimated at £4.4 billion; a figure exceeding that of the West Midlands’s car manufacturing industry (£3.562 billion).
To create the report, London Economics looked at the impact of five key areas within the University:
Formed in 1875, as Small Heath Alliance, Birmingham City Football Club shares the name of the city and is a cornerstone of the region.
The ambition, to be a beacon of excellence for Birmingham on the global stage through the four pillars of Football, Community, Infrastructure and Commercial, which continues the blue thread started nearly 150 years ago, is driven by Chairman of the Board, Tom Wagner, and Board Member and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Dale, with the support of seven-time Superbowl champion and Chairman of the Advisory Board, Tom Brady.
At present, the Men’s First Team are a member of the English Football League and the Women’s First Team – 2012 FA Cup winners – compete in the Barclays Women’s Championship. Both play all their home fixtures at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, a 29,409-capacity venue that boasts reimagined, second-to-none hospitality spaces available seven days a week.
And by the power of the badge, the Football Club and the Birmingham City Foundation betters the lives of the resilient, hardworking, multicultural people who reside in its surrounding communities.