15th Anniversary

14 February 2022

Rio Ferdinand helps celebrate the “local legends” of Premier League Kicks as community programme marks 15-year anniversary

The Premier League is celebrating 15 years of its flagship community programme. Premier League Kicks has supported hundreds of thousands of young people to achieve their potential and improve their wellbeing through free weekly football sessions and educational workshops.

Premier League Kicks began in the 2006/07 season in partnership with the Metropolitan Police, with the aim of involving and supporting young people in regular, positive, and fun activity, whilst helping to create stronger, safer, more inclusive communities.

To date, the Premier League has invested almost £66 million in Kicks and in the year ahead an estimated 80,000 young people will take part in the programme.

Since it began, more than 440,000 young people have participated in Premier League Kicks football and multi-sport sessions held at community venues across England and Wales. The programme started with four pilot clubs and is now run across 936 venues by 90 Premier League, English Football League and National League sides – all funded by the Premier League.

As part of the 15-year celebrations, clubs have nominated a Premier League Kicks ‘Local Legend’ – somebody who has taken part in, volunteered, or worked on the programme and has inspired others through their dedication, work ethic and own personal development. Each nominee will receive a bespoke ‘Local Legend’ football card, which has been created with support from Premier League partner Panini.

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, who won six Premier League titles, has shared his support for the scheme and features alongside Kicks participants and coaches in a video celebrating 15 years of the programme’s impact.

Rio Ferdinand said: “For 15 years Premier League Kicks has been using the universal language of football to bring communities together and inspire a new generation of young people, providing positive role models who can give them belief and can help to steer them on the right path in life.

“Legend is a word you hear a lot in football, but legends aren’t just created in stadiums. The coaches, mentors, volunteers and participants who have fulfilled their potential thanks to these weekly sessions all deserve to be called legends.”

Current Premier League stars Marcus Rashford and Declan Rice, both former Premier League Kicks participants, also feature in the video. Other top-flight stars including Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Zaha attended Premier League Kicks sessions in their teens.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: “We are proud of the incredible impact Kicks has had on communities up and down the country over the past 15 years. As we mark the anniversary, this is an opportunity to celebrate the local legends who have helped make Premier League Kicks what it is.

“The success of the programme would not have been possible without the hard work and passion of club staff, coaches and volunteers working alongside young people at Kicks sessions, week in, week out.”

As well as providing young people with access to free football and sports activities, Premier League Kicks offers mentoring, life skills advice and access to opportunities like volunteering to help aid their development.

Former participant and West Ham United’s Premier League Kicks Local Legend, Najma Shariffu, said: “When I first started at Kicks, I was extremely shy and struggled a little bit with anxiety. Through the sessions I've been able to overcome those things and have become more confident, thanks to help from the coaches. They've supported my personal and professional development, from gaining my qualifications, to getting a full-time job and now being the PL Kicks lead at West Ham United Foundation.”

Clubs also run workshops on a variety of social issues, enabling young people to openly discuss topics that affect them, like equality, diversity and inclusion and combatting youth violence and knife crime. The programme also sees clubs work with 36 territorial police forces throughout the country – with regular sessions taking place in disadvantaged areas.

Detective Inspector Madeline Kelly, Greater Manchester Police, said: “The work of the Premier League Kicks programme has been imperative to the success of curbing youth violence. We try and steer young people away who are on the periphery of youth gang activity and the Kicks programme has been intrinsic in that success.

“Kicks has helped to break down barriers between the police uniform and young people which is really important in the community.”

The League funds Premier League Kicks and other community programmes through its £100m investment per season in community facilities and community and education programmes. This is the biggest voluntary contribution to communities and other good causes of any football league in the world.

As part of the Kicks anniversary celebrations, representative teams from all 90 Premier League Kicks clubs have been invited to attend one of six regional tournaments during February half-term (14–25 February 2022), bringing together more than 1,000 young people.

Visit premierleague.com for more information.

Inclusivity is at the core of Kicks delivery with Premier League funding enabling clubs to run bespoke sessions to suit local need, which includes girls-only and disability sessions.

15 years of Premier League Kicks

• 90 professional football clubs currently deliver Premier League Kicks

• To date, the Premier League has invested almost £66 million into the programme

• More than 440,000 young people have taken part in Premier League Kicks sessions since it launched

• Over 900,000 hours of Premier League Kicks sessions have been delivered

• 936 venues in England and Wales currently host Premier League Kicks sessions delivered by clubs - over half of which are in the top 30% most deprived neighbourhoods

• Clubs work with 36 police forces across England and Wales as part of the programme

• More than 21,000 programme volunteers have helped on Premier League Kicks. 93% of these volunteers are former participants

• 20% of the Premier League Kicks workforce are former participants

About the Premier League

The Premier League produces some of the most competitive and compelling football in the world. The League and its clubs use the power and popularity of the competition to inspire fans, communities and partners in the UK and across the world. The Premier League brings people together from all backgrounds. It is a competition for everyone, everywhere and is available to watch in 880 million homes in 190 countries.

About Premier League Kicks Local Legends

Local legends are being recognised by each of the 90 professional football clubs funded to deliver Premier League Kicks from Sunderland to Swansea City.

Local Legends include:

Teenager Liutauras (Lilly) Balciunas​, has been nominated by the Newcastle United Foundation for demonstrating a positive transformation in behaviour since attending his first session in 2016.

Celia Facey, 67, who has been involved with Arsenal in the Community for 15 years, initially as a youth worker before joining Kicks as a sessional worker and becoming a cornerstone of the club’s scheme.

City in the Community’s [Manchester City] Harvey Waldron, 23, who was born deaf and has been involved with Kicks for eight years – three years as a participant and one year as a volunteer before acquiring his qualifications through Kicks to become a paid coach who has delivered more than 1,200 sessions for young people from a variety of backgrounds.

Tony Riddle was nominated by the Daggers Trust [Dagenham & Redbridge FC Community Trust]. Tony has worked for the Daggers Trust for many years, having moved from West Ham United FC Foundation and has been the Lead Coach for the activities since the very beginning.