SPAR UK Partner in Scotland hosted its second girls football SPAR Future Stars national finals day on 30 March with around 400 girls competing and two teams being presented with the associated winning Cup. The SPAR Future Stars finals day is a culmination of months of football being played by teams of girls aged between 12 and 16 in teams of eight in local and regional rounds across Scotland.

Boosting grassroot football

In partnership with the Scottish FA, SPAR Scotland has been supporting the Scotland Women’s National Team since 2019 and as a result decided to boost girls grassroot football with introduction of the SPAR Scotland Future Stars Cup in 2020. The geographic spread of the teams participating this year has been significant, with teams taking part from the Scottish Borders right up to Dingwall in the north of Scotland.

Increased participation

A total of 300 teams from 200 schools entered into the competition and competed in local rounds across the country.  This year, all age ranges were covered at the finals day, with the winning teams and runners up receiving medals and Braeview Academy and Holy Cross High School winning the coveted SPAR Future Stars Cups. The event was run by Scottish FA community coaches who did a fantastic job recruiting teams and facilitating local and regional rounds.

In attendance on the day were Scotland Women’s National Team (SWNT) Head Coach Pedro Martinez Losa along with Lauren Davidson who made a player appearance. Lauren is currently the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) top scorer and recently scored her first goal for Scotland. Aimed at ages 12–16-year-olds, the football competition is a platform for schoolgirls to play in a competitive tournament. Approximately 400 girls participated on the day, in thirty-six teams from across the two age groups (S1 and S2, and S3 and S4).

Colin McLean, SPAR Scotland CEO, said: “We have had an excellent day supporting all the girls teams taking part in the 2023 SPAR Future Stars Cup. It has been impressive to see their excellent skills played out on the pitch. And even better to have so many schoolgirls take part in the competition. We hope to see one of these girls play for the SWNT one day. SPAR Future Stars is an excellent initiative. A healthy lifestyle – eating and keeping fit and encouraging schoolgirls across every community in Scotland to take part in this fun tournament – fits really well with our CSR objectives.”

SPAR Scotland supported the event with branding at the stadium. There was a significant increase in teams competing in the tournament this year, with 1,800 girls participating in the event.

Source: SPAR Scotland

Read more about SPAR UK.

About SPAR UK

The UK became a SPAR member in 1956 when SPAR International granted the SPAR licence to a group of independent wholesalers. As a result, there are now five regional partners in the UK. A central office in London provides national marketing and buying services for the group.

SPAR has led the highly competitive convenience market in the UK for many years. Always innovative, the five regional partners continue to grow the brand. SPAR UK comprises independently owned licensed retailers and company-owned stores. These include forecourts, airports, train stations, city centres, and local neighbourhood stores.