Spar Scotland’s four-year partnership with the Scottish Football Association has been extended by a further four years.
The partnership encourages young people to have an active and healthy lifestyle and supports girls who want to play football at a grassroots level with the aim one day to represent the Scotland Women’s National Team.
The partnership began in 2019 with the sponsorship of Scotland Women’s National Team (SWNT) and has since continued to raise the team’s profile, as well as committing investment into girls’ and women’s grassroots football across the country.
A key element of the partnership was the introduction of the Spar Future Stars Challenge Cup, a nationwide girl’s football competition for schoolgirls aged between 12-16 years, which stretches to all parts of Scotland.
The 2023 competition broke all records with 300 teams participating in the tournament and more than 3,000 girls competing. Registrations are already open for the 2024 competition with over 80 teams already signed up to take part.
In addition, over 10,000 fans flooded Hampden Park last season for the showpiece Women’s Scottish Cup Final, which was broadcast nationally on BBC One Scotland. Spar’s support will help grow the competition even further, while seeing the brand feature on media interview backdrops and in stadia. The Women’s Scottish Cup trophy will also be hitting the road, as part of community activations with it’s newest partner.
Spar Scotland Chief Executive Colin McLean said: “We are extremely pleased to extend our well-established partnership with the Scottish FA until 2027. Over the past four years, the combination of our familiar Spar brand with one of Scotland’s leading female sports has allowed us to reach even more customers.
“Our continued partnership with the Scottish FA and our sponsorship of the Scotland Women’s National Team allows us to encourage more girls to play football. Giving as many girls as possible a competitive opportunity to participate in our tournament right across Scotland is hugely important to us. Renewing this partnership is testament to our excellent working relationship and we look forward to the years ahead.”
Andy Gould, Chief Football Officer at Scottish FA, added: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with Spar Scotland as we collectively strive to continue the growth of the girl’s and women’s game in Scotland.”
