Soccer Aid: A record breaking year

Helping footballers and celebrities raise money in safety

Soccer Aid is a much loved chance for footballers and celebrities to take to the pitch and raise money for charity. However, in these COVID times, it was necessary to test each player frequently in the run up to the event to give them a sense of security that they would be in a COVID-free environment.

Key stats

2 bio bubbles

4 RT-PCR tests per player

300+ participants

Olly Murs

TV Presenter

"It’s great to be safe and to know that everyone here at Soccer Aid this year is negative. It’s so important and a big shout out to Project Screen by Circle."

Olly Murs, TV Presenter

Project objectives

Soccer Aid wanted to create a virus-free bio bubble where the players and training staff could prepare for the match in safety. With a large number of players, trainers, crew and presenters, this presented a logistical challenge and a big ask for all involved.

The process

A bio bubble was created at Mottram Hall, a venue where all the players could prepare for the event. Prior to arrival, each player had two tests, and two further tests on site. Before entering the ‘red zone’ for VIPS, each player would need to provide a valid health passport in order to minimise the risk of infection. A second bubble was created at Old Trafford for match staff and TV presenters. Each bubble would remain isolated from the other until match day.

Key innovations

Soccer Aid were able to position the Project Screen by Circle mobile testing solution on site to test players and staff. However, in the run up to the event, nurses were sent to people’s homes in order to facilitate the end to end testing process.

Mobile testing vehicle

RT-PCR test

Health passport

Results

Every single person involved with Soccer Aid tested negative for the virus from a total of 728 tests conducted over a 4-week period, including 438 home collections. In terms of fundraising, it was a record breaking year with over £9.3 million raised for Unicef.

"Soccer Aid is an important fund raising initiative that has a respected place in the international calendar. At an unprecedented time when certain communities are under more threat than others, we were proud to play our small part in raising £9.3 million for Unicef."

Avi Lasarow, CEO EMEA Prenetics

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About Project Screen by Prenetics

Project Screen is an initiative created by Prenetics, a genetics company with headquarters in London and Hong Kong. Together, we can get Britain back to work.

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