The one-off Liverpool shirts will be auctioned off after the side’s clash with Chelsea (Picture: Liverpool FC)
Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed a slight difference with Liverpool’s shirts for the side’s heavyweight Premier League clash with Chelsea – and supporters will be glad to hear it’s for a good cause.
Liverpool’s retro strip for the 2024/25 campaign, which the club describe as ‘a fresh remix of the legendary pattern and print from 1984’, features the You’ll Never Walk Alone motto etched into its fabric.
And across the front, fans have got used to the shirt reading ‘Standard Chartered’, the British bank who have been Liverpool’s main sponsor for the last 15 years.
But at Anfield this afternoon, the ‘Futuremakers by Standard Chartered’ logo is plastered across the unique kit, with the jerseys set to be auctioned off to raise money for the initiative.
Futuremakers, Standard Chartered’s community engagement program, aims to aid young people in working towards and better future and is ‘dedicated to helping the next generation earn, learn and grow’ around the world.
‘Young people need to be equipped with the skills to succeed in this new economy, yet there is a broadening gulf in access to resources. This is where we come in,’ the Futuremakers page on Standard Chartered’s website reads.
‘Futuremakers is focused on breaking down barriers to opportunity and empowering the next generation to make meaningful contributions to the world around them.’
The Futuremakers logo has also been worn by Liverpool Women in the WSL (Picture: Getty)
Fans will be able to get their hands on the limited-editions jerseys at CharityStars.com/SCFM and all proceeds will go towards the Futuremakers initiative.
The auction for the men’s shirt opens today. The bidding for the shirts which Liverpool Women donned for their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City Women began last weekend.
To help promote the cause, local lad Trent Alexander-Arnold spoke to Liverpool’s website about the importance of helping the the next generation and pressure and privilege of carrying the hopes of his boyhood team.
‘At first it’s quite intimidating because so many people are watching you and so many people are wanting to see what you’re doing and emulate what you’re doing,’ Alexander-Arnold said.
‘But you get to a point where you embrace it and use it as motivation, I think.
‘Growing up I had idols like Stevie G [Steven Gerrard] and Carra [Jamie Carragher] who, not their message directly to me, but the careers themselves and being from the city and going through the Academy system made it possible.
‘In my mind it was like, ‘If they can do it, why can’t I?’ They’ve probably played on the same fields as I have. They were doing the same things in the academy and they came through the same system and were able to achieve it.’
Alexander-Arnold believes ‘small things’ like changing the shirt can have a ‘huge impact’ (Picture: Liverpool FC)
The England right-back added: ‘So, if I’ve got enough discipline, hard work and talent then why can’t I go and do that?
‘I think that’s something that sticks with me a lot of the time. It’s sometimes the reason why I push myself to show people if you’re willing to work hard enough that anything is possible.
‘That’s something that is firmly in my mind, if you do think it, you can do it, but it’ll take hard work. But if you’re willing to put that in you can do and achieve any dream you want.’
Liverpool stars wore the Futuremakers logo against Manchester United last December (Picture: Getty)
It’s not the first time Liverpool have carried the Futuremakers logo on their shirts and Alexander-Arnold believes they have become something of a good luck charm for the Merseyside giants.
‘I like it, it’s always a standout game in the season and always a memorable one,’ he continued.
‘Thinking back to the games that we have worn them in the past, they’ve always been good ones for us so, yeah, I like it.
‘It’s special, it’s motivating and it’s inspiring for us all. It’s a reminder of a how big of an impact we can have on people’s lives and help in any way.
‘It’s the smallest things, by just changing the sponsor for one game a season, just shows that little things can make a huge impact.’
Conor Bradley, who is only 21 years of age himself, stressed that it was important for Liverpool’s players to set a ‘good example’ to young people around the world.
‘We are obviously role models for young kids out there in the world so we just have to do our best to lead by example as best we can,’ the Liverpool full-back said.
‘We need to give them a good example to follow by.’
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