Bolton Wanderers are proud to have received Family Excellence Status, being handed the silver award by the EFL.
The scheme, introduced in the 2007/08 season, assesses the family experience that clubs provide throughout the Football League. Clubs are rewarded with Gold, Silver and Bronze for the quality of their matchday experience across a range of touchpoints including ticket purchase, matchday entertainment, accessibility, facilities and communications.
EFL clubs received two ‘mystery family’ visits throughout the season, with their feedback and reports determining whether clubs would achieve ‘Family Excellence’ status.
Wanderers, for the 2024/25 season, have been awarded the Silver award with work already underway to reach Gold Standard when the 2025/26 campaign comes around.
Phil Mason, Chief Operations Officer at Bolton Wanderers, said: “We are happy to have maintained our status as a silver standard club for this season, with a number of areas already pinpointed to enhance our matchdays at the Toughsheet.
“As a Football Club, we are continually striving to improve the matchday experience both inside and outside the stadium bowl to ensure that supporters are receiving the best offering when visiting us on home matchdays.
"Our Community Day fixtures - offering supporters tickets for select games at reduced prices - remain incredibly popular, whilst our Leasing Options Fan Zone provides supporters with the perfect opportunity to kickstart their matchday experience in the best possible way.
“For our Junior Supporters, our ‘First Time Fan’ initiative was relaunched during the 2024/25 season, as well as Sensory Packs introduced as a way to help cater for all supporters coming to home games at the Toughsheet. The creation of the Youth Advisory Board this season has also helped to ensure we have enough knowledge and information from supporters of the younger demographic to help us make informed decisions that impact their experience on matchdays.
“This year, we have also launched ‘Virtual Venue’, enhancing supporters’ ticketing journey when wanting to join us at games – whether that be through match-by-match tickets or through 2025/26 Season Tickets – again emphasising the club’s commitment to evolving and enhancing our fan experience across the board.
“This award is another indicator of the work being conducted by a range of departments across our club - and we thank staff for their continued hard work - with specific areas highlighted for us to improve on as we aim to reach gold standard in the years to come."