MasterCard Worldwide has announced its further commitment to grassroots sports in China with the extension of its sponsorship agreement with China ClubFootball, China's first independent grassroots football network.

The announcement marks the third year of co-operation between MasterCard Worldwide and ClubFootball and will focus on further swelling the ranks of amateur men, women and juniors participating in well established leagues and coaching courses. It also marks the formal launch of ClubFootball's campaign to bring Chinese amateur football into the 21st century with the establishment of the first ClubFootball Play Centre in Beijing.

Welcoming the agreement, ClubFootball Chairman Rowan Simons remarked, "With so much focus on elite sport in the lead up to the Olympics, MasterCard's on-going commitment to our grassroots campaign and particularly its extended support at this crucial time sends a powerful message that sport is for all."

In the year that China hosted the 2007 Women's World Cup, the MasterCard campaign also emphasizes the importance of offering women an avenue into grassroots sport and builds on the interest that the tournament inspired within the community.

The final element to the campaign is the MasterCard ClubFootball Grassroots Review, a legacy fundraising event through which ClubFootball hopes to introduce its ClubFootball Play Centre model to Beijing. Details of the project will be released closer to the time but events are set to include celebrity endorsement and an auction of star-studded football memorabilia never before seen in China.

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