England National Final – Summer at Business Fives
England National Corporate Football Summer season set for gripping finale
The summer season of the five-a-side events for footie-loving firms, which has run through the August and September, culminates next Friday in Leeds. The final has kindly been sponsored by qualifiers, Direct Business Solutions, as the first Business Fives England national champion will be crowned.
The tournament encourages firms across the UK to enter a five-a-side team in both winter and summer events and is now coming to the end of its seventh season. Exactly 9,227 goals have been scored at Business Fives events so far with 944 of them coming in 209 matches in England this summer.
With charity a huge driver behind the events so far more than £107,000 has been raised through Business Fives event. £9,833 of that has been raised for various charities in England as a result of our summer events with sponsors Direct Business Solutions raising £1150 for both the Graham Wiley and Nicole and Jessica Rich Foundations, other notable fundraising efforts from the finalists are Tenet Group who raised £300 for the Candlelighter Trust and Bulk Tainer who raised £269 for Zoe’s Place.
Simon Moslemi, Director at Direct Business Solutions said, “We are thrilled to continue our support of the events having taken part in events in Newcastle last winter and Sunderland this summer it’s been a great way for us to reward staff and give back to the local community. We deal with companies across the UK helping them save money on their business utilities and it’s great to see so many businesses coming together to create a huge positive impact. We are really proud of both the Foundations we are supporting and the tournament as whole, we hope everyone has a great day and hope this encourages other businesses to participate and donate.”
This summer Business Fives charity prize pot up for grabs is over £3,300 which will be split between the finalists of the Champions League section and the winners of the Europa League section of the tiered event. There are a large number of local and national charities being supported with Cancer Research UK, Macmillan, Mind UK and Women’s Aid all represented.
The inaugural England national final will be hosted on Friday 4thOctober as companies nationwide will be bidding to become champions and win the prize money for their chosen charity.
32 companies from various industry sectors have qualified from 8 events throughout England in the North East, North West, Midlands and Yorkshire regions and the full line up of companies involved is below.
The events have been well supported by ex professional footballers and Richard Cresswell and Jonathan Greening will be attending the England national final. Ex-players supporting the events as ambassadors include Newcastle United goal machine, Malcolm ‘Supermac’ MacDonald, 1999 Treble Winner David ‘Superstar’ May, Sunderland FA Cup winner Micky Horswill, Leeds and Chelsea star Tony Dorigo, Hull Wembley Hero Dean Windass, Middlesbrough and Ireland goal scorer Bernie Slaven and former Sunderland and Wolves star, Alex Rae.
Tournament founder and Business Fives managing director John McClarey – who will shortly be hosting the highly-successful Business Fours golf tournament 2019 – says it’s a great opportunity for businesses to bond with colleagues outside of the office, get fit and raise money for charity.
John said: “This has been our first full season of events in England and we are delighted with how well it has been received across the nation. Feedback from the players continues to be very positive and we’re delighted to keep bringing our clients together through sport.
“We’re thrilled with the fundraising efforts of our clients and we were incredibly proud to pass the £100,000 mark in Sunderland earlier this summer. We wish all the teams the best of luck in the final.”
Net Premacy Global Services are playing for Cancer Research UK
Capita are playing for MacMillan
New Day are playing for Family Action
DFDS are playing for The Chloe and Liam Foundation
Mgb Straight are playing for SASH UK
Bulkhaul are playing for MFC Foundation
Cranswick Country Foods are playing for Peter’s World Hull Autism Support
United Gas & Power are playing for Down Syndrome Bradford
Willmott Dixon are playing for Prostate Cymru
Tenet Group are playing for Candlelighter Trust
360 Accountants are playing for Paul for Brain Recovery
South Yorkshire Housing Association are playing for Sheffield Children’s Hospital and St Luke Hospice
Alan Wood & Partners are playing for WWF Amazon Rainforest Appeal
Durham Lifting are playing for Sisters Place
Giacom World Networks are playing for Women’s Aid
Bulk Tainer Logistics are playing for Zoe’s Place
Direct Business Solutions are playing for Graham Wiley Foundation
Smith Anderson are playing for Maggies Centre Fife
Wirecard are playing for Mind
Advantage are playing for Warrington Animal Welfare
Cargill are playing for CAFT
Clipper Group are playing for Alzheimer’s Society
Orange Bus are playing for The Bobby Moore Fund
AB Ports are playing for Dove House Hospice
Bidfood are playing for Springboard
Tonik Energy are playing for SolarAid
Executive Resource Group are playing for Macmillan Cancer Support
Open Money are playing for Wood Street Mission
