Grassroot Soccer Community Comes Together to Raise £1 million at 2025 Gala

On December 3, the Grassroot Soccer community joined together at Lindley Hall in London to support the 2025 Grassroot Soccer Annual Gala, raising more than £1 million for Grassroot Soccer and our soccer-based adolescent health programs!

During the evening, Grassroot Soccer honored Arsenal Women with the Game Changer Award, in recognition of the Club’s advocacy in driving gender inclusion and well-being. Accepting the Award on stage on behalf of the Club was Captain Leah Williamson. 

“It’s an honor to represent Arsenal and accept this award on behalf of everyone connected with our club,” said Williamson. “Grassroot Soccer uses football to provide safer, healthier environments for young people, and we’re proud to align our efforts to drive generational change for young women and girls with such an inspiring organisation.” 

Tobin Heath – former Arsenal player, 2x World Cup Winner with the U.S. Women’s National Football Team, and Grassroot Soccer Global Ambassador and Advisory Board Co-Chair – presented the award.

The evening centered on the theme of the power of coaching and mentorship, and the most inspiring moment of the evening was a speech by Grassroot Soccer SKILLZ Coach Benson Mumba. In his moving remarks, which received a standing ovation, Benson shared how his journey has taken him from a childhood filled with adversity and trauma, to finding support and community through Grassroot Soccer as a young person living with HIV, to becoming a Coach himself so he could be a mentor and a role model for other young people just like his Coaches were for him.

“In my community, Grassroot Soccer is regarded as a life line support for young people and I am considered a game changer,” Benson said. “When I look back at my journey, from my hardest moments growing up to standing on this stage here in London tonight, I am convinced that the work we do as Grassroot Soccer Coaches is truly changing and saving lives.”

Grassroot Soccer Global Ambassador and UK Board Chair Rachel Riley MBE steered the evening’s proceedings as gala host, and the program featured performances by Innocent Masuku, member of the English National Opera and fourth-place finisher on the 2024 season of Britain’s Got Talent. 

The evening also celebrated the public launch of the Bobby Clark Coach Development Fund, which supports the training and development of Grassroot Soccer SKILLZ Coaches – young community leaders who run Grassroot Soccer programs and serve as valuable mentors to program participants. To commemorate the launch of the Fund, legendary Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson shared a celebratory video message for Bobby Clark – former Scotland goalkeeper and celebrated American collegiate football coach – for whom the Fund is named.

“I’ve been proud to support Grassroot Soccer for the last decade, and I’m especially proud to support this important initiative,” Ferguson said. “Bobby and I go way back to our Aberdeen days. As football coaches, we’re firm believers in recognizing potential and investing in young people, and Grassroot Soccer’s Coaches are doing this around the world.”

Other notable figures in attendance included Grassroot Soccer Global Ambassadors Christen Press (2x World Cup Winner with the U.S. Women’s National Team) and Quinton Fortune (former Manchester United player); Alex McLeish OBE (former Scotland footballer and manager); Roberta Moore (daughter of Bobby Moore and Founder and Patron of The Moore Family Foundation); Kola Bokinni (actor from the Emmy and SAG Award-winning Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso); and Ethan Zohn (winner of CBS’s Survivor: Africa and Grassroot Soccer Co-Founder).

The program also featured a video message of support from David Beckham, a live auction that included a Manchester United matchday experience with Ferguson and an experience provided by The Football Association (The FA), and concluded with a DJ set by HALE ZERO to celebrate the evening’s fundraising successes.

Thank you to everyone in our community who supported this event – helping us to honor our inspiring Coaches around the world and raise critical funds to enable them to continue their life-changing work.