Charlie Mulgrew and Caroline Weir 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, including the Scottish FA, 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 encourage participation, helping to support grassroots clubs and their volunteers, raise the standards of grassroots football across the UK and improve the grassroots experience for young, aspiring footballers.
McDonald’s football ambassador, Blackburn Rovers and Scotland defender Charlie Mulgrew said: “Growing up, the support I received through grassroots clubs and their volunteers played a huge role in my development, so it’s exciting for me to help McDonald’s announce the renewal of this partnership with the Scottish FA.
“It’s really important that clubs all over the UK get the support they need but also that we continue to attract new players to the sport so we can continue to create opportunities for young players to enjoy the game.”
“Over the past four years we’ve seen some major changes in the game from the growth of Para-Football to the ongoing rise of the women’s game,” said McDonald’s ambassador and Manchester City and Scotland Women’s star Caroline Weir.
“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”.
Andy Gould, Head of Football Development at the Scottish FA: “Grassroots Football is a key priority for the Scottish FA and our continuing partnership with McDonald’s over the last 16 years has played an integral role in growing the game.
“The new initiative dovetails perfectly with our ethos at the Scottish FA of making Football available to all and we are grateful to McDonald’s for helping to make this beautiful game so accessible to children across the nation.”
Chris Rawlings, Scottish FA Commercial Director: “Our enduring partnership with McDonald’s has been extremely beneficial to us for nearly two decades now and this deal recognises the strong foundations we have built in tandem over the years.
“The renewal of our partnership and the introduction of this exciting new grassroots initiative recognises the value the Scottish FA has to offer to both commercial partners and young footballers across the nation and we look forward to seeing the programme benefits youngsters across the country for many years to come.”
“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.