Mars Wrigley Confectionery (previously Mars Chocolate) and The Football Association have renewed their partnership for a further four-year term, with an increased focus on supporting greater equality, diversity and inclusion at every level of the game.

Mars Wrigley will extend its role as Official Supporter of the England Team and Official Partner to the FA Mars Just Play programme until July 2022; a partnership that began in 2009.

The renewed deal will see the relationship extend to all confectionery brands within the Mars Wrigley portfolio – including chocolate, sweets, ice cream, and chewing gum – allowing the business to develop integrated sponsorship campaigns across the range, as well as increase the scale and reach of the partnership nationwide.

The partnership also includes a number of new rights and benefits that demonstrate this commitment:

  • Mars Wrigley has now extended the sponsorship agreement to include the England Women’s and Disability Teams. This will allow both organisations to realise their joint ambition to grow the game in England, with a focus on supporting these two groups.
  • The FA Mars Just Play programme, which has already provided 2.7m opportunities for adults to play football, will extend its remit to ensure that it reaches a broader range of participants, including BAME, women and disability.
  • In addition, Mars Wrigley will, for the first time, provide 200 Level 1 FA coaching bursaries, with a particular focus on increasing equal representation and participation among women and in the BAME community.

Mark Bullingham, FA group commercial & marketing director, said: “We are incredibly proud to continue our partnership with Mars. This agreement will extend our partnership into its tenth year and beyond, which is testament to the success of the relationship for both partners over this period. The new agreement represents an exciting enhancement of Mars Wrigley’s rights, which is reflective of their commitment to diversity as a business and our vision to make real progress on the inclusion and diversity of The FA.”

Baroness Sue Campbell, FA head of women’s football, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for the women’s game as we seek to double participation by reaching out to ALL girls and women and at the same time build a system capable of delivering consistent success on the world stage. To have the backing of Mars Wrigley Confectionery for the Women’s National Team over the next four years will help us to drive and achieve our ambition.”

Michele Oliver, Mars VP marketing, said: “We are extremely proud of Mars’ great heritage of working with football at both a National and grassroots level. Our continued partnership with The FA is reflective of the excellent relationship we have had over the last nine years but also of how it is evolving. While continuing our support for our Men’s National Seniors Team, we are delighted to announce that we are also sponsoring the talented and successful England Women’s Team, as well as our National Disability Teams. The worlds of both sport and business will be more successful by being more diverse and inclusive, and at Mars we hope our extended partnership with The FA can be a part of leading this change.”

“At Mars I have been incredibly proud of the campaigns we have produced to support diversity and inclusion across our brands, and I could not be more excited to have to opportunity to work with The FA to push this agenda further within the national game.”

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