Supermarket Chain Lidl To Fund FA Coaching Sessions Starting In April

Supermarket chain Lidl will roll out a series of football coaching sessions to "hundreds of thousands of children" in April ahead of football's European Championships in France this summer, according to Matthew Chapman of MARKETING MAGAZINE. The "Lidl Family Days" sessions are part of its multi-million pound sponsorship of the FA that is designed "to help the financing of grassroots football" and support the FA’s "skills programme." Lidl will finance coaching sessions for boys and girls of all abilities aged between five and 11 years old. The grocer claims its backing will create 1.2 million "opportunities" for children to take part in the sessions, which will be held by FA coaches both inside and outside of school. Lidl’s sponsorship of grassroots British football "should go a long way in blunting the perceived obsession over its German ownership" (MARKETING MAGAZINE, 3/23).