Jordan Pickford and Nikita Parris join children from across the UK to announce McDonald’s renewed support of grassroots football for four more years
McDonald’s has today announced its continued long-term commitment to improving the standard of grassroots football in the UK with the renewal of its partnership with the four home nations Football Associations for a further four years.
Having worked closely with all four UK FAs over the past 16 years, McDonald’s is the longest-standing supporter of grassroots football in the UK. Building on the huge growth of grassroots football over the past decade and a half, the next four years will see the introduction of a new, participation-based programme aiming to provide five million hours of fun football for children across the UK by 2022.
Through ‘turn up and play’ coaching sessions and more Community Football Days than ever before, McDonald’s will provide over 500,000 children the opportunity to try football for the first time. The wider focus of the programme will remain to support accredited grassroots clubs and their volunteers, helping to raise the standards of grassroots football across the UK and improving the grassroots experience for young, aspiring footballers.
McDonald’s football ambassador, Everton goalkeeper and England international Jordan Pickford said: “Growing up, I was lucky enough to benefit first-hand from McDonald’s support for grassroots clubs and their volunteers, so it’s exciting for me to help them announce the renewal of this partnership. It’s really important that clubs all over the UK get the support they need but also that we continue to attract young, new players to the sport so we can continue to develop talent.”
“Over the past four years we’ve seen some major changes in the game from the growth of disability football to the ongoing rise of the women’s game,” said McDonald’s ambassador and Manchester City and England star Nikita Parris, also speaking at the launch. “With the new programme placing even greater focus on participation and opportunities to play, we’re aiming to make football more and more inclusive and open to everyone. We can’t wait to kick this off and I’m sure it will result in grassroots football being in an even stronger position in four years’ time”.
Mark Bullingham, Commercial & Marketing Director at the FA said: “We are delighted to continue our relationship with McDonald’s, which has delivered so much for grassroots football in England over the last 16 years. As a not for profit organisation it is vital that our partners take a truly collaborative approach with our grass roots initiatives and McDonald’s has done exactly that. I am thrilled that we can carry on our partnership and support McDonald’s in their quest to provide fun football for families via Community Football Days and opportunities for children to try football for the first time via ‘turn up and play’ coaching sessions. I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together over the next 4 years.”
“We are delighted to announce the renewal of our partnership with the UK Football Associations signalling the start of another four years of working together to support grassroots football in every community” added Paul Pomroy, McDonald’s CEO, UK and Ireland. “I’m incredibly proud of everything our grassroots programme has achieved over the past sixteen years and we’re committed to our goals of increasing participation and delivering five million hours of fun football for children by 2022.”
For further information on McDonald’s involvement in grassroots football and to find out how your club could benefit visit www.mcdonalds.co.uk/football or follow @FunFootballUK on Twitter and Instagram.
–ENDS–
01 August 2018
London, England
Ambassadors and children from the Home Nations and UK FA representatives at the launch of McDonalds UK’s new football sponsorship programme which will provide over 5million hours of fun football for children across the UK by 2022.
Back row (L to R) Melissa Palmer, Paul McNeill, Caroline Weir, Freddie Griffiths-Jones, Sara Pennant Jones, Jordan Pickford, McDonalds UK COO Jason Clark, Rachel Furness, Charlie Mulgrew, Heather Wright – Front row (L to R) Nikita Parris, Corry Evans, James Chester and Natasha Harding
The full list of players is as follows:
- England: Jordan Pickford and Nikita Parris
- Scotland: Charlie Mulgrew and Caroline Weir
- Wales: James Chester and Natasha Harding
- Northern Ireland: Corry Evans and Rachel Furness
For more information contact:
The McDonald’s Sport Press office
020 7025 6697 / mcdonaldssportsteam@redconsultancy.com
