The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has extended its partnership with convenience store chain Spar.
Under the new three-year deal, Spar will continue to serve as the official convenience store of the FAI.
The agreement runs until 2021 and will see Spar continue to support all levels of Irish football, from grassroots to the international stage.
Spar has been a partner of the FAI since 2015 and title sponsors the FAI Primary School 5s Programme. The chain has helped grow the initiative from 20,000 participants and 1,000 primary schools in 2015 to 31,728 participants and 1,528 primary schools in 2018.
Spar has promoted the programme across its 400 local retailers, helping it become the largest primary schools’ competition in the country.
Spar sales director Colin Donnelly said: “We are very excited to be extending our relationship with the FAI for this unique partnership that, at its essence, encourages children to get involved in sport.
“We have achieved a 63-per-cent increase in overall participation numbers since 2015 and have ambitious plans to continue to grow and develop the Spar FAI Primary School 5s Programme. This is a very exciting time for Irish football with Mick McCarthy returning as Ireland manager and we’re looking forward to being a part of the FAI’s next chapter.”