Football Art Prize 2025-2026

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Touchstones Rochdale and Parker Harris are excited to announce the return of The Football Art Prize, an international open call celebrating the confluence between football and art.

This prestigious competition invites artists who explore the passion, drama, and unity that football inspires across the world. Open to anyone aged 18 and over, working in any two-dimensional medium (including painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, and moving image) the prize welcomes diverse and creative interpretations of how football shapes our lives, identities, and communities.

For its second edition, the shortlisted works will form part of a prestigious regional touring exhibition, opening at the Millennium Gallery (Sheffield Museums Trust) before travelling to the National Football Museum in Manchester - all during 2026, the year of the next iconic World Cup. All shortlisted artists will also be featured in a virtual gallery and a fully illustrated print catalogue, with the award winners announced at the exhibition’s opening ceremony.

Entries are open internationally and submitted online, making it possible for artists everywhere to share their work with a wider audience.

Be sure to read the entry details carefully before submitting your work, and take your shot at being part of this celebration of football and creativity.

Meet the Selectors

  • Tim Marlow

    Tim Marlow OBE (b. 1962) is a British art historian, curator, and broadcaster. He is currently the Chief Executive and Director of the Design Museum in London, a role he took up in 2019. Previously, he served as Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts, where he played a key role in shaping its exhibitions and programming. Marlow has presented numerous radio and television documentaries on art and culture, making art more accessible to broad audiences. Throughout his career, he has written extensively and lectured internationally, recognized for his ability to bridge scholarly insight with public engagement.

  • Jessica Naz

    Jessica Naz is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Tottenham Hotspur and the England national team.

  • Emmely Elgersma

    Emmely Elgersma is a London-based artist and designer whose work explores material transformation and the relationship between art, sport and community. She has exhibited at Christie’s, Saatchi Gallery, Selfridges and the London Design Festival. Recent projects include sculptural football shirts and immersive installations for music and cultural festivals.

  • Harland Miller

    Harland Miller (b. 1964, Yorkshire) is a British artist and writer known for his bold, text-based paintings that blend language, humour and abstraction. Drawing on literature, pop culture and personal experience, his work explores how words shape emotion and meaning. He has exhibited internationally with major solo shows at White Cube, York Art Gallery and Blain|Southern.

  • Sarah Hodgkinson

    Sarah has over 25 years experience of working in the cultural sector, specifically in the North West. As Senior Curator she has responsibility for the exhibition programme at Touchstones Rochdale and leads the exhibition and collections team who care for a diverse collection of over 100,000 objects and 1700 artworks.

  • Alison Morton

    Alison Morton is Head of Exhibitions at Sheffield Museums Trust with over 30 years of experience in the museum sector, specialising in visual art and exhibitions. Alison leads the Exhibitions curatorial and technical teams and is responsible for the programming and delivery of exhibitions and displays across the Trusts six sites. 

  • Marek Romaniszyn

    Marek Romaniszyn is a curator at the National Football Museum. His work focuses on co-creation, access, and representation, shaping exhibitions that celebrate diverse voices and foster meaningful connections between museums, communities, and cultures.

The exhibition is open to artists based in the UK and internationally, above the age of 18.

All mediums, techniques and styles are encouraged, including work in photography & film. Sculptural works must have installation instructions and provide installation material. 

The submission process is digital only and all exhibition and results correspondence will be via email. Enter up to four works in total.

PRIZES

First Prize £5,000 

Second Prize £2,000

THE TOUR

The Football Art Prize will open at the Millenium Gallery and online and will then tour to the National Football Museum (Manchester).

Artists may submit up to four works:

Standard Entry:

One work – £15

Two works – £25

Three works – £35

Four works – £45

Artists entering with a Rochdale, Sheffield or Manchester postcode:

One work – £12.50

Two works – £20.00

Three works – £27.50

Four works – £35

If you pay to enter less than four works at registration, you may add more work/s before the deadline date.