The Chelsea Foundation’s Education department set a challenge focused on using Euro 2020 to help drive traffic back to the club’s social channels.

Students had support from expert guest speakers and workshops before presenting their social media strategies and content to a panel of judges.

As an extra incentive, there was a chance for the winning content to be used on the club’s social platforms before England’s fixture with Scotland.

Helen Crossley, Chelsea’s global social manager was part of the judging panel and she said: ‘The Business Challenge was a great opportunity for the students at Brunel University to tackle a real-life challenge that we face on a daily basis as a social media team, and the results were outstanding.

‘I was impressed with a variety of original and well-thought-out solutions that were presented to us, some of which we will take forward and consider implementing into our social media strategy.’

Professional development director at Brunel University, Jon Bainbridge, added: ‘Brunel University London was delighted to partner with Chelsea Football Club Foundation to deliver Chelsea Challenge 2.0.

‘This innovative, industry challenge kicked off our ‘Catch up on campus’ initiative and required students to curate a social media campaign for Chelsea FC during Euro 2020, with the possibility of having the winning teams’ content published on Chelsea social media channels.

‘Approximately 100 students worked in small teams intensively over a two-week period, with the winning team taking home £1,000 as well as securing a VIP trip to Stamford Bridge.

‘It has been an absolute pleasure collaborating with the Chelsea team, this type of initiative creates a unique opportunity for Brunel students, giving them that edge in the employment market and enabling them to have some fun in the process!’

For more information on how colleges and universities can get involved, please contact [email protected]