Who’s helping
Our story
“The idea never left me”
Ritchie Beckett, founder and director
Pumping up 100 balls by hand
Our mission
Found Football is on a mission to get kids more active through the simple power of football.
We gift free footballs into parks, playing fields, schools and communities, creating opportunities for children to discover a football, pick it up and start playing.
We believe getting active shouldn’t need to be complicated. Sometimes all it takes is a football and a reason to get outside.
How it started
Jumpers for goalposts
Ritchie Beckett was born and brought up in Stockport, and grew up around the playing fields of Cheadle Hulme. He played amateur and semi-professional football around Stockport and managed a team in the Stockport District Sunday League.
While running a large sales team at Deliveroo, which sponsored England and Paris Saint-Germain at the time, he imagined filling a UK football pitch with tens of thousands of footballs and filming it with drones. It never happened, but the idea never left him.
In February 2026 he bought a first batch of balls himself. He and his two sons left them in local parks and playing fields for anyone to take home. They wrote #FoundFootball on the balls, photographed them and posted online, and people guessed where they’d been left.
It grew from there. Found Football is now Ritchie’s full-time work. He has registered it as a not-for-profit, agreed a supply arrangement with ChildrensFootball.com and brought in sponsors.
Why he does it
In Ritchie’s words
“Technology is amazing, but kids are spending far too much time on their phones and on screens.”
“Growing up, I didn’t always have a football… you lose them, they get stolen, or they get worn out or popped. So actually just having a football in the first place is an easy way to get people into playing the game.”
“Sometimes with a football, that’s all it takes. Somebody picks up a ball, in 20 years, they could be representing their country.”
- Feb 2026The first batchTen balls, bought by Ritchie and left on the Cheadle Hulme playing fields he grew up around
- 29 Aug 2026The 100-ball dropSt Thomas Rec, Heaton Mersey. The biggest single drop so far
- Sep 2026Frank Bruno joins inBalls delivered to parks in Southend-on-Sea, Hockley and Leighton Buzzard
- 5 Sep 2026On BBC NewsEx-world champ Bruno delivers footballs to parks
- 7 Sep 2026MediaCityUK, SalfordOne ball left at Pudsey’s feet
- 13 Sep 2026Derby dayBalls left at Bradford Park, next to the Etihad
- 26 Sep 2026In the Manchester Evening NewsAround 300 balls handed out so far
- NextNationwideRitchie wants to take it to the Euro 2028 host cities, and one day do a 1,000-ball drop
Founder and directorRitchie Beckett
Born and brought up in Stockport. Does the drops with his two sons.
SupporterFrank Bruno MBE
Former WBC heavyweight champion. Delivered balls in Essex and Bedfordshire.
Ball supplierMatt Hackett
ChildrensFootball.com. Pictured left, with Ritchie.
SupporterDanny Pugh
Former Manchester United, Leeds United and Stoke City player.
SupporterAmanda Barr
Former Lioness.
AmbassadorGreg Lane
Volunteers in Wigan.
Partners and sponsors
SponsorRNT Property Group sponsors Found Football. [A line about RNT to come]
Drop partnerThe Frank Bruno Foundation teamed up with Found Football on a drop, with Frank delivering balls to parks himself.
Ball supplierChildrensFootball.com supplies the balls at “near enough” cost price.
Behind the scenes
How a drop happens
