The Football League and Nickelodeon UK & Ireland announced the launch of "Nick Kicks," a new weekly Football League children's program on the Nicktoons channel starting Feb. 6. With 100 episodes set to air on Saturday mornings through the end of the '17-18 season, Nick Kicks will combine Football League match highlights with a variety of fun features to keep young viewers entertained. Produced in association with The Football League Trust, Nick Kicks will take viewers behind the scenes of the league with visits to clubs, interviews with players and even a regular feature that will see SpongeBob SquarePants take on club mascots in weekly challenges (Football League). In London, Mark Sweney reported the new show "follows a deal struck by Viacom, which owns Nickelodeon, with the Football League for a primetime Channel 5 highlights show last year." The show "will be presented by" 22-year-old Capital FM presenter Roman Kemp and 25-year-old BT Sport and CBBC presenter Rachel Stringer. Kemp -- the son of Spandau Ballet and EastEnders player Martin Kemp -- "has 25,000 Twitter followers and 48,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel" (GUARDIAN, 1/12).
