Local primary school children from across Dundee had a brilliant morning of football at a Tesco Bank Football Challenge festival at Manhattan Works, attended by Dundee United’s Mario Bilate.

The 200 pupils from six schools are the latest to have taken part in six weeks of coaching with qualified Scottish FA coaches, before participating in regional festivals across the country, many of which  are  held  at  high-profile  venues  including  St  Mirren  Park,  Rugby  Park,  and  Tynecastle Stadium. A national festival at Hampden Park brings the school year of football to a memorable close.

The Tesco Bank Football Challenge is a long term football development programme run in partnership with the Scottish FA. The initiative introduces football to Primary Two and Primary Three children (six to eight years old) across Scotland to help get them engage in a healthy and active lifestyle.

The last four years of the programme have been an overwhelming success, with over 82,000 children across more than 2,000 primary schools in Scotland taking part. The next four years will focus on continuing to grow participation but also developing a legacy strategy.

Tesco Bank and the Scottish FA will ensure relationships are built and strengthened between schools and football clubs so that there is a clear way for pupils to progress and build on their enjoyment of playing football. To that end, the Scottish FA and Tesco Bank will announce significant further developments to the programme in 2015.

Teachers and volunteers continue to enjoy the Scottish FA’s in-service programme with over 3,500 now trained to support the growth of football in schools.

Denise Derby, Deputy Head Teacher at St Peter and Paul's Primary School, said:

“It’s been great to see the children having fun at Manhattan Works today and putting into place all the skills they have learnt over the last six weeks of coaching.”

Scottish FA Football Development Officer, Niall Nicolson, said:

“Our coaches have been with these children over the last six weeks and it has been great to see them improve. What better way to celebrate their Tesco Bank Football Challenge success than by playing at Manhattan Works.”