A $1 million grant from the Minns government to the Central Coast Mariners will be used to "empower youth" and "combat domestic violence".
The government announced the grant on Monday for a program called "Onside with the Mariners", saying it was "committed to during the election".
The program is due to begin on the Central Coast early next year and run until April 2026, the government said.
However, the Mariners said the program would run for three years.
Premier Chris Minns launched the program on Monday, saying the government was "committed to addressing the devastating impact of domestic and family violence".
"Programs like this make a real difference in young people's lives and in the community," he said.
The Mariners said a company called Enrichd helped develop the program.
Enrichd CEO Brent Richardson said "we're creating it for them and co-designing it with the NSW Education Department and the Mariners".
Mr Richardson said the University of Newcastle was supporting the program.
"It's around using sport as a conduit to healthy relationships in schools," he said.
"We will go into schools and talk about what healthy relationships look like, then do skills and drills with the players that mirror that."
He said the university would "do the training around safe storytelling for our ambassadors".
"We'll have three female and three male ambassadors. The idea is this is delivered by the players themselves."
He said themes could be "healthy relationships and coercive control and what it means, and safety around social media."
This would be overlaid with "the values of teamwork".
University Chancellor Patricia Forsythe said the "university's strengths in sports education and trauma-informed practice will be harnessed in this new program".
The Mariners confirmed the university will receive a payment from the grant money for its contribution, along with Enrchd as a consultant to the program.
"We get the grant money and we will pay for their services out of that," said Alyssar Narey, CEO of the Central Coast Mariners.
"Every dollar needs to be accounted and budgeted for. Then we get audited from the Office of Sport on how we spend that money."
Ms Narey added that the club had been working on obtaining the grant for a year.
"This was irrespective of the treble," she said, referring to the club winning three trophies last season.
She said the grant would be for a three-year program, despite the government saying it would run for just over a year.
"The program will be delivered with the University of Newcastle into our high schools for the next three years, and hopefully into primary schools as well eventually."
She said the program "embodies our vision of using football as a tool for social good".
"We are the community club. We have a platform that we should be making a big difference," she said.
Jodie Harrison, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, said "sports have incredible reach and influence in our communities".
"The NSW government is keen to tap into that with our work in preventing domestic and family violence," she said.
Greens spokesperson for domestic violence Abigail Boyd questioned spending public money in this way on the domestic violence issue.
"This isn't at the core of the evidence for domestic violence prevention. It's just throwing money at things that look good," Ms Boyd said.
"It's like something out of [TV show] Utopia."
