Charity Football - Celeb FC 

Every summer, there are always a number of Celebrity Charity Football games happening throughout the UK. In the Summer of 2013 a group of celebrity football players, who had been playing at various charity events for many years, ended up at an event which Karin (Founder of Celeb FC), was volunteering at and was asked (last minute) to help organise.

After the match, when some of the footballers / celebs & Karin were sitting & discussing the game, the subject of funding for such events arose. A number of the participants felt it wasn’t right that people attending were donating to these charity events, unaware that some of those donations were being paid as fees to the organisers, some celebrity appearance costs & venues etc.

Particularly for small charities, community groups & individuals who need immediate help, it was felt no one should be taking a cut of the money raised.

Also from the viewpoint of the attendees, at the very least, if there were expenses involved with creating a fundraiser, they should be clearly explained to people buying the tickets so they can make an informed choice.

Celeb FC grew from that belief - celebrities, sportspeople & others involved with them, play voluntarily to bring a showbiz feel to small UK events in aid of charity; this ensures that the charity, group or individual does NOT have to factor in for appearance fees, PR costs or event organiser fees before they can even begin to think about holding a fundraiser.

In fact most of the events Celeb FC attend are to help people at the sharp pointy end of a crisis, and they have raised funds for disability aids & equipment, holidays for families with children who are suffering from life-limiting illnesses, foodbanks, domestic abuse charities, football clubs for children & other such important causes. They have also attended events just to create happy memories for families in difficult circumstances.

Celeb FC Celebrity players do not charge appearance fee’s & everything the team & support network do is voluntary; We also supply full promotion of events by creating flyers, social media advertising and press releases for the charities.

Since 2018 however, we, the Celeb FC team & volunteers who have been self-funding travel etc  have had to instil a small cost (which MUST be paid for by a local business sponsorship) to assist in getting a full team of participants, kits & balls etc to the events. This cost has been on average £500 per event. (Which covers everything mentioned above). This works out at approximately £14-18 per Team Member /Volunteer attending (Travel, full-day attendance,  etc).

The team have some really talented individuals playing for them, several of whom have played football before their various careers. Find out about the team HERE

Charity Football - The Story so far

In 2013 Celeb FC played in 6 matches and secured sponsorship for the kit thanks to Teamstats. Celeb FC played in the Football Supporters World Cup at the London Soccer Dome in November 2013 and contributed to over £25000 being raised for Small UK Charities throughout the year.

In 2014, we played 11 games (with many more requests to play, but without funding, we were limited). Karin and the players spoke on The Football Talk Show for Harlow Radio numerous times and also on Sky TV at The Chrissy B Show (Sky Channel 203).

Some players were on National TV as part of The Voice. BigBrovaz appeared on Channel 4 & were on stage at various Festivals where Celeb FC were invited as guests. We contributed to raising circa £35000 during this year.

2015 saw a number of games played in our new strip, thanks to new Kit Sponsors – Patriot Sports. Charities supported in this year included Help for Heroes, Prostate Cancer UK, The Jude Brady Foundation, & others, we contributed to circa £25000 being raised.

2016 saw 8 matches played, contributing to just over £25000 being raised, along with new fundraising routes being taken - The teammates and charities appearing on Podcasts & TV (Fan TV on Sky Channel 212, Clare Meets on Youtube & The Only Way is Linda On V3 TV) - All to add awareness raising avenues for the charities we help. There was also a great Christmas Charity event in Derby in November for the SSSN Charity.

2017 was welcomed with a team photo-shoot at new sponsors CREAMS in London. We not only attended Charity Football events, but Golf & Cricket along with Galas. April saw the generosity of one of the Celeb FC team increase a small Essex Charity fundraising capability by over £10,000. With 8 Football Matches Played, Including for The Jude Brady Foundation, The AKO Autism Charity &  2 Charity Balls & a Charity Cricket event we contributed to raising over £95,000 in 2017.

2018 saw in a new main sponsor www.Good2Bid.co.uk . We attended Charity Football matches, Charity Golf Games & Gala's all supporting small UK Charities. Celeb FC Founder Karin also became a member of the committees of some amazing small Charities - The South West Thames Kidney Fund, St Helier Music & Community Festival, Rose Hill Community Group, Care Campaign for The Vulnerable & Sutton Night Watch.  We contributed to raising  circa £55,000 in 2018.

2019 saw Celeb FC supporting many kinds of events including community days such as the St Helier Community Festival & the Rose Hill Christmas Market (www.SHMACF.co.uk), a number of charity gala evenings & of course fundraising football matches. We had a new Kit Sponsor - Chandlers Building Supplies & a new Medical bag sponsor Wimblederm. We also resurrected our amazing #Teamlookalikes (last seen at the Tesco tournament in 2017) played at a huge stadium (Millwall) & on a number of small community grounds...Every single match mattered no matter where or when it was! We contributed to raising circa £50,000 in 2019.

2020 was a difficult year for anyone involved in fundraising & we unfortunately couldn't play any fundraising football events nor appear at any charity events. Sadly 3 Gala's, 6 Matches, a Golf day, a community festival, a fundraising concert & a fun run for 10 charities had to be cancelled. BUT we did of course continue to support many community & charity groups in other ways - from Mrs Brown of Teamlookalikes reading bedtime stories  (Raising just over £2000) to the Celeb FC teammates providing prizes for entrants of competitions which were raising funds for small charities. We have done whatever we can to support people in new, inventive ways,

2021 - With new sponsors secured, including Icon Kitchen Designs, Life force Support, Macca Sports & Vestey Foods UK, along with existing, long-term support from Wimblederm, 1v1 Footballs, Taylored Events and Eco Balloons, Steve OSullivan Photography and of course Rocoja,  we are feeling extremely positive about the 2021-22 season. We have events in the pipeline, supporting communities & groups that really need all the help they can get right now!

2022 saw Celeb FC win another award – “Most Charitable Sporting Events 2022” & also support another 5 Football events and 3 Galas. We had sponsors back on board including Icon Kitchen Design, Go To Build, Wimblederm and Rocoja and new Photographer after our Steve moved home - Taur Everard - 2022 saw us support just under £25,000 of fundraising. We also supported 4 huge community projects in the Surrey area, involving over 100 Charities/ Community groups.

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CelebFC #TeamLookalikes.

www.TeamLookalikes.co.uk

Contact us at Teamlookalikes@CelebFC.co.uk for details on how they can help you at not only Charity events BUT corporate teambuilding & Fun days.

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About the Charity Football Celeb FC Founder

Karin Flower

Born in South London & living there her whole life, Karin developed a love of the beautiful game in her childhood. Sadly in the 70’s girls were not allowed to play & as she was NOT into any of the usual girl sports of the era she quickly became a bookworm. Now many years later, after having an eclectic career whilst bringing up children, she has brought her love for football (an avid Liverpool Fan of almost 3 decades) & her passion for Charity together.

Karin currently runs Celeb FC from home, doing as much as she can whilst battling her own health problems. She is however a glass half full (preferably with a nice Red Wine) kinda girl.

Karin is supported in the run-up & at every event by her daughters Jade, Courtney & Roxanne. Although you may not see them, because if the event needs mascots / characters for children to play with – Yep you guessed it, That's where they will be.

Karin is very proud to have been awarded the Chris Donovan Trust Inspirational Woman of the Year Award and the Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, Inspirational Supporter Award.

Karin is also part of a number of non-profit / community groups, providing operational / event / sponsorship / fundraising / administrative / website support & hopes you will visit them to see what else you can support (if you can)..

www.KingswoodShetlands.co.uk (2019 - present)

www.SHMACF.co.uk   (2017 - 2023)

www.CareCampaignForTheVulnerable.com (2017-2021)

www.SuttonNightWatch.com (2018-2022)