COPA GRC
COPA Readiness Check

How ready is your club for regulated football?

In around five minutes, answer ten practical questions to see what leadership can clearly own, operate and evidence today, and where greater focus may be needed.

10 leadership questions5 minutes approximatelyFULL result shown first
Start the Readiness CheckHow it works
Before you start

Answer from what leadership can see today.

Choose the position that best reflects the club now, not the intended future state. Where you cannot see a reliable position, choose “Not clear yet”.

01

Answer ten questions

Reflect on ownership, decisions, risk, controls, routines, evidence, checking, visibility, capacity and IFR licensing readiness.

02

Receive the full result

See a directional band, the complete ten-theme profile and practical actions immediately.

03

Use it privately or share by choice

Print, save or discuss the result internally. Contact details are requested only if you later ask COPA to interpret it.

Choose one position for each question

What each answer means

“Confident and evidenced” means leadership can identify a clear, operating arrangement supported by current evidence, not only a policy, draft, isolated example or confidence in capable people.

Not clear yet

Leadership cannot currently describe a reliable or sufficiently defined position.

Partly in place

Some activity exists, but it is incomplete, inconsistent, informal or dependent on individuals.

Mostly in place

A credible arrangement generally operates, with remaining gaps in consistency, evidence, checking or visibility.

Confident and evidenced

The arrangement is clear, operating and supported by current evidence, not only a policy, draft or intention.

What this check is and is not.

This is a leadership self-assessment based on one respondent’s current view. It does not test evidence and is not the Football GRC Diagnostic, an audit, assurance opinion, compliance conclusion or prediction of a licensing outcome.

Leadership self-assessment

How clearly can leadership see the club’s operating position today?

Answer all ten questions to receive the full directional result. The check reflects one respondent’s visibility and does not verify the underlying evidence.
0of 10 answered

Complete all ten questions to receive the full result.

Leadership ownership: Do the Board and executive team have a clear, shared view of the club’s most important responsibilities in regulated football and who is accountable for each?
01
Operating Standard: Leadership Critical foundation

Leadership ownership

Do the Board and executive team have a clear, shared view of the club’s most important responsibilities in regulated football and who is accountable for each?

Think about

Named accountable owners, role clarity across functions and whether leadership shares the same view.

Decision-making and oversight: Can leadership see who, or which club body, is authorised to make important decisions, what requires approval and how concerns are challenged or escalated?
02
Operating Standard: Governance

Decision-making and oversight

Can leadership see who, or which club body, is authorised to make important decisions, what requires approval and how concerns are challenged or escalated?

Think about

Reserved matters, delegated authorities, Board and committee approvals, challenge and escalation.

Understanding risk: Does leadership have a current, joined-up view of the regulatory, financial and operational risks that could affect the club’s licence, resilience or objectives?
03
Operating Standard: Risk management

Understanding risk

Does leadership have a current, joined-up view of the regulatory, financial and operational risks that could affect the club’s licence, resilience or objectives?

Think about

Ownership, finance, operations, supporters, people, technology and material change.

Important controls: For the club’s most important obligations and risks, are the key controls clearly owned, completed when required and supported by reliable evidence?
04
Operating Standard: Controls

Important controls

For the club’s most important obligations and risks, are the key controls clearly owned, completed when required and supported by reliable evidence?

Think about

The controls the club relies upon to meet material obligations or prevent significant failure.

Regular operating routines: Are the club’s key governance, control, reporting and action-tracking activities built into dependable weekly, monthly, seasonal and event-driven routines?
05
Operating Standard: Recurring operating disciplines

Regular operating routines

Are the club’s key governance, control, reporting and action-tracking activities built into dependable weekly, monthly, seasonal and event-driven routines?

Think about

Activities triggered by the calendar, football season, transactions, incidents or organisational change.

Evidence and records: Could the club quickly locate the current approvals, decisions, records and evidence needed for leadership or a regulatory request, without relying on individual memory or a last-minute search?
06
Operating Standard: Evidence Critical foundation

Evidence and records

Could the club quickly locate the current approvals, decisions, records and evidence needed for leadership or a regulatory request, without relying on individual memory or a last-minute search?

Think about

Board papers, approvals, submissions, control records, decisions and supporting evidence.

Checking arrangements work: Does leadership receive proportionate checking and challenge over whether the club’s most important arrangements are well designed and working in practice?
07
Operating Standard: Assurance

Checking arrangements work

Does leadership receive proportionate checking and challenge over whether the club’s most important arrangements are well designed and working in practice?

Think about

Management review, second-line challenge, internal or external assurance and lessons from issues.

Technology and visibility: Can leadership see owners, deadlines, actions, evidence and material issues in one usable view, even when the underlying information sits across different systems?
08
Operating Standard: Technology

Technology and visibility

Can leadership see owners, deadlines, actions, evidence and material issues in one usable view, even when the underlying information sits across different systems?

Think about

A single system is not required; the test is whether leadership can see a reliable combined view.

People, knowledge and capacity: Does the club have enough time, knowledge, deputies and specialist support to keep important responsibilities operating through normal activity, key deadlines and periods of change?
09
Operating Standard: Organisational capability

People, knowledge and capacity

Does the club have enough time, knowledge, deputies and specialist support to keep important responsibilities operating through normal activity, key deadlines and periods of change?

Think about

Vacancies, absence, turnover, peaks in workload and access to targeted specialist support.

IFR licensing readiness: Does the club have a controlled route through licence applications, evidence, approvals, conditions, notifications and continuing engagement with the IFR?
10
Operating Standard: Licensing and continuing readiness Critical foundation

IFR licensing readiness

Does the club have a controlled route through licence applications, evidence, approvals, conditions, notifications and continuing engagement with the IFR?

Think about

The full lifecycle: application, progression, conditions, reporting, change notifications and regulator requests.

A deeper view

The Diagnostic tests the evidence behind the answers.

The Readiness Check is based on one respondent’s current visibility. The Football GRC Diagnostic reviews the club’s arrangements, evidence, dependencies, capacity and material gaps through a separately scoped evidence-based process.

A low or mixed self-assessment does not automatically mean the club needs COPA. The result may simply provide a useful internal leadership discussion.

Explore the Football GRC Diagnostic