The Challenge is one element of the Premier League Inspires programme, which clubs run on a weekly basis to support 11–18-year-olds who may be at risk of not reaching their potential as they move through the education system and early adulthood.

The Premier League Inspires Challenge empowers participants to take on a social action project and make a difference to the world around them.

This season, young people have been tasked with tackling gender inequality in their communities. LFC Foundation representatives came together to share their project ideas through an online heat style format. The winning team developed a project to use spoken word poetry to address the topic of Gender Inequality and brought it to life with a video to share with the local community (school, youth groups ect).

One participant, Angel, shared her experience: "The programme has supported me in a number of different ways and provided loads of opportunities. To be able to use my interest in arts in this way has been great. Never did I think I would get to be representing Liverpool at Wembley in a challenge. This has showed me what I can achieve".

Having come up with their gender equality social action idea, LFC Foundation participants will join hundreds of young people at the Premier League Inspires Challenge celebration event at Wembley Stadium later this year, where they will share details of their activity with teams of their peers representing 45 clubs from across the Premier League and the English Football League.

The LFC Foundation Premier League Inspires Challenge team also explored the positive work Liverpool FC is already doing to tackle gender inequality, including The Our People Pillar of The Red Way. Our People focus is about everyone that interacts with the Club, in particular our colleagues, players and our supporters. All our work in this space is driven by our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy Red Together. This has four strategic priorities: Disability, Gender, LGBT+ and Race & Ethnicity.

It is about how we ensure that Anfield and Liverpool Football Club provides an environment that is inclusive, safe and welcoming at all times – a culture that we can all be proud of.

This Challenge builds upon the Premier League and Premier League Charitable Fund’s commitment to creating opportunities for all in communities across England and Wales.

Premier League Charitable Fund Chief Executive, Ruth Shaw OBE, said: “Premier League Inspires supports thousands of young people across England and Wales every year. For those taking part in the Premier League Inspires Challenge, they will work in teams to create positive, inclusive environments and champion gender equality at their football clubs and in school, at home and in their communities.”

“I’m excited to hear their ideas about how we can all promote equality and positive change, both on and off the pitch.”

Launched in 2019, Premier League Inspires creates life-changing opportunities for young people who have been identified by their schools as needing extra support to engage with activities, helping them to develop the personal skills and positive attitudes needed to succeed in life.

Using the power of football, the programme helps to prepare young people for further education and employment through a series of face-to-face mentoring sessions, workshops and social-action projects.

This season, 45 professional football club community organisations across the Premier League and English Football League are delivering Premier League Inspires sessions at their stadiums, in local schools and at alternative educational settings, with partnership support from the Professional Footballers’ Association.

More than 30,000 young people from across England and Wales have received more than 130,000 hours of targeted support through the programme to date.

To find out more, please visit premierleague.com.