Football for peace: providing support where it is most needed

Big Hearts is thrilled to reveal future plans following our biggest participation to date in the ‘More Than Football’ campaign, held on March 19th at Tynecastle Park.

Over 17,900 football fans – the largest crowd of the season – came together on the 6th Big Hearts Day to raise funds and awareness of Big Hearts’ on-going work with asylum seekers and refugees.

With a host of pre-match entertainment for fans, the Hearts squad playing with the charity logo on their strip and 300 free match tickets distributed to schools and community groups, the event demonstrated once again how the Hearts’ family is committed to changing lives through football.

Thanks to kind-hearted supporters, the Club’s official charity raised an outstanding £8,700 on the day! These will go a long way in developing our ‘Welcome Through Football ‘ project.

We are delighted to confirm that we have launched a third group at the end of March, with young refugees and asylum seekers getting involved with our charity to rebuild their lives in Edinburgh.

The Big Hearts’ staff team is now running the project five times a week! Tynecastle Park is the first and only football ground in Scotland delivering this pioneering initiative hosted in 6 other countries.

As part of the campaign, Big Hearts is donating £2,000 to assist the relief efforts in Ukraine, through our partners at the European Football For Development Network (EFDN).

The funds will help purchase essential items for the Emergency Shelter Centre set up in Lviv Stadium by Ukrainian Club and EFDN member Shakhtar FC. This includes mattresses, blankets, heaters, microwave, soap, baby milk or drinking water.

In recent weeks, the Lviv Stadium in West Ukraine has been transformed to provide refuge for internally displaced children and adults fleeing the war.

A massive thank you to all the Hearts fans, staff and volunteers for your amazing support.
Together, we are more than football!