In celebration of the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final, two of the world’s most iconic brands in football -  Lay’s® and Gatorade® - came together to celebrate the grassroots’ game as part of PepsiCo’s ongoing commitment to provide equal opportunities for men and women both on and off the pitch.  

Lay’s RePlay, a global initiative created in partnership with the UEFA Foundation for Children and streetfootballworld, aims to bring joy to deserving communities by creating football pitches. The initiative’s latest pitch in the heart of Turin, will provide 18 hours of weekly football education sessions over the next 12 months, aimed at supporting 200+ young people and women at risk of social exclusion. The programmes will focus on educational empowerment and personal growth, hoping to create a sense of belonging, all while fostering a safe space for access to sport.  The pitch has been built using the most sustainable technology, giving empty crisp packets a second life - making up 32% of the pitch - both the turf and shockpad layer are also made from 100% recyclable items. The zero-net carbon footprint initiative follows in the footsteps of three other Lay’s pitches built last year, in South Africa, Brazil and the UK.

These open-pitches have already contributed massively to creating safe spaces for local community members - often from disadvantaged backgrounds - to access the ‘beautiful game’. 810 participants have already been directly impacted via 1,427 hours of Lay’s RePlay educational football programming, with a further 19,000 wider community members having been indirectly impacted through general use and bespoke community events.  In the lead up to the UWCL Final, Juventus legend Claudio Marchisio, and UEFA Chief of Women’s Football Nadine Kessler, unveiled the pioneering sustainable pitch in Turin. The three-time Women’s Champions League winner Kessler, spoke of the impact PepsiCo are helping to create by installing RePlay pitches across the globe. “This pitch is building a legacy in the sense that it’s here where everything will start for a lot of these young people. It’s here where the next UWCL superstar could be made! Or the next Barcelona or Lyon fan - it’s providing a space for young girls in particular to fall in love with the sport.

“It’s important that we all work hard to ensure that we don’t just celebrate huge, ‘highlight moments’ - like a Champions League Final for example - because we need to create foundations to get more girls and young women playing football, and that starts with providing access and integrating initiatives like this one in local communities.”

Ensuring the pitch was put to good use immediately, Gatorade kicked off the national Italian final of the all-women’s Gatorade 5v5 tournament - which for the first time coincided with PepsiCo’s wider sponsorship of the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final.

Both the Lay’s RePlay pitch program and the eagerly awaited return of the 5v5 tournament cement the PepsiCo’s commitment to supporting young athletes and driving positive change in local communities through the power of sport.

PepsiCo have really thrown down the gauntlet when it comes to supporting both the grassroots and elite professional level of the women’s game. Sebnem Erim, VP of Marketing, Global Foods at PepsiCo, said: “At PepsiCo, we’re committed to the future of women’s football, bringing our influence and scale to bring due recognition to Women’s football. And we are proud to inaugurate our first Lay’s RePlay pitch for 2022 in Turin and host the national finals of 5v5 on it.

"We want to play an active role in supporting Women’s football, working hard to make sure we activate this platform with the conviction, energy and quality that many of the players have demonstrated.”

This season has been a record-breaking one in the women's game, with finalists Barcelona paving the way when it comes to smashing attendance records. Having packed out Camp Nou in back-to-back Champions League games, the club have shown that the interest in women's football is at an all-time high. Yet not everyone can be a professional athlete and play football at the highest level, but everyone can kick a ball and should have a safe space to do that. If anyone understands that, it's PepsiCo.