The DUP minister added that the criteria for funding had been set by his department but the scoring had been verified independently.
Clubs could apply for grants of up to £1.5m, up to £6m and more than £6m but must demonstrate that they would contribute at least 5% of the project costs, this rising to 40% for council-owned grounds.
“I hope people will see this as a fair and transparent process. We set the criteria, we scored people against that criteria, it was done in the proper way.
“All this was scored outside of me. I had no involvement in that whatsoever, and this was assessed by someone independently as well.
“So people can have faith and confidence in the process and it will be good for football because after waiting for so long we’re going to see real movement towards a really tangible difference in clubs right across Northern Ireland.”
While the investment in the game has been welcomed by administrators at the Irish Football Association and Northern Ireland Football League, representatives of those governing bodies have emphasised the need for much greater finance to be made available.
Speaking in January, IFA president Conrad Kirkwood said that the funding fell “significantly short of the Department for Communities’ own estimated £200 million required to upgrade performance club grounds, grassroots facilities and establish a National Football Centre for Northern Ireland”.
The Communities minister told the BBC that he hoped the initial funding announcements on Thursday would only be the beginning.
“I’ll always be looking to see what I can do within my own capital budget. There are other means by which we can look for finance, that might be borrowing, that might be private sector, or additional contributions from government.
“I’ll explore all of that, see what we can do.
“But I see the need that exists in football and I want to make sure that that need is met because I want to make a difference in the lives of people who take part, players, spectators, those that use football clubs outside of Friday night and Saturday afternoon games.”
