Norwich City are proud to announce a three-way alliance that focuses on creating life-changing opportunities for young people from underrepresented backgrounds in the UK.

The alliance will see Bidstack supporting BADU Sports students with the opportunity to attend, train and learn from various teams on the corporate and performance side of Norwich City Football Club. Activities will include attending Norwich City’s Finnish football camp, coaching and sports performance sessions at The Nest, and seminars in marketing, business management and careers in football. 

To mark the start of this new partnership, BADU’s logo will be featured on the Canaries’ home and third kits, whilst Bidstack’s logo will feature on the team’s away kit. 

BADU Sports’ work is focused on building a mentoring and support network through education and community development programmes – using sports as their main vehicle for engagement. The sports education community group have previously partnered with the FA, London Sport, Loughborough University, Sky, Nike  and recently the Mayor of London’s Office to deliver workshops aimed at equipping children and young adults with knowledge and skills, to help further their educational journey and make a positive impact on their working careers later down the line. 

Since their pivot from digital-out-of-home advertising to in-game advertising, Bidstack has grown its business from a crowdfunded start-up to a more than 60 people strong PLC business. Bidstack has previously worked with BADU to help increase awareness of the outreach work it does in the local community through in-game advertising activation in the popular game, Football Manager. It is now taking this partnership further with kit sponsorship and connecting the organisation with Norwich City to further develop and grow their educational programmes.

Norwich City has a history of giving back to the community. In 2017, the Canaries worked with the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation to rejuvenate their former home ground, The Nest, into a world class community sports facility. Twelve months later, phase one of the ground’s remodel was complete and was open to the public. Currently a £1m funding-raising campaign is under way to kick start phase two of the project. 

Nana Badu, BADU Sports founder and CEO said, “We are absolutely overjoyed to be working with Bidstack and Norwich City football club. It will mean great things for BADU Sports and the community. We have always strived for the very best access and knowledge to develop and empower and this alliance will help realise this for our young people and their families whom we serve. This sends such a strong message about our joint partnership and commitment to bridging the gap of inequality of access and knowledge. The world has experienced challenging times and I am proud that together we have created a roadmap for change.”

James Draper, Bidstack founder and CEO said, “Seeing the work BADU Sports and the Community Sports Foundation have put into furthering the opportunities and lives of local underrepresented people in East London and Norfolk respectively, and given our relationship with Norwich City Football Club – it feels incredible for our team and supporters of Bidstack to bring two organisations together, with this partnership.

“We work tirelessly to ensure that our companies’ existence benefits those who we come into contact with, and this activation sits well with our values – and enables us to say ‘thank you’ to the two communities and the one club – who transformed our company. Thank you to our friends at Norwich City – and to Nana and his team, I’m hoping this will be a transformational partnership for many young lives.”

Ben Tunnell, Norwich City Football Club’s Head of Commercial Development, said, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome back Bidstack to the Club’s partnership portfolio and first-team shirt. It has been to the joy of everyone at Carrow Road seeing the growth of Bidstack since our first partnership in 2016,  knowing how important our partnership was for Bidstack in becoming the world’s leading in-game advertising agency.’

“Bidstack gifting the bulk of the Partnership rights to BADU Sports, and presenting Norwich City the opportunity to be a part of their story is remarkable. We cannot wait to get started with Nana Badu and his team and look forward to creating some unforgettable experiences and memories.”’