Dutch retailer Albert Heijn has teamed up with the KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Federation) to launch a campaign to boost fruit consumption among children playing football.
The campaign, entitled Teamfruit, focuses on sustainable behavioural change, the retailer said in a statement.
"We want to use the connecting power of football to bring about positive change among youth," said Johan van der Zanden, director of marketing and communications at Albert Heijn.
"Therefore, together with the KNVB, we target the youth footballers of the Netherlands and motivate them to eat a nice piece of fruit at half-time or after the game. Something that fits with Albert Heijn's mission: Making better food accessible together. For everyone."
Fewer than half (44%) of children up to 12 years old eat enough fruit every day, and this figure is only 31% among secondary school students, studies showed.
Teamfruit
As part of the campaign, youth teams throughout the country can request a 'Team Fruit Bin', for free, via ah.nl/teamfruit. Albert Heijn will give 100 teams a full tray of fruit at their match every week during the upcoming football season.
Teams can also register and coordinate for fruit deliveries via the Voetbal.nl app, which is used by Dutch football players.
"Football brings hundreds of thousands of children together every year," added Dave Dekker, KNVB director of commerce.
"At clubs, they stay healthy through exercise and learn to play football and interact as a team. [It would be] especially nice if they also learn to eat healthy snacks such as fruit. We are very happy with this initiative by Albert Heijn."
Representatives from the Albert Heijn travel across the country every week, visiting football clubs to promote fruit consumption.
Teams that participate automatically compete for all kinds of prizes, such as tickets for the Dutch national team.
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