Football Shirt Friday is a fundraiser where people wear their favorite football shirts to support childhood cancer research. It's a strategically important initiative for The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund. It targets men, a demographic that is underrepresented among donors across all charitable organizations.

Football Shirt Friday was launched in 2023 for the first time in Sweden, meaning that we were just in the second year. For most people, Football Shirt Friday was still an unknown fundraising initiative. Typically, it takes years to build awareness and establish a recurring annual fundraiser – and the media budget for 2024 was modest.

Under these circumstances the challenge was to create a campaign that could gain significant traction organically and generate the right kind of attention for the initiative. To achieve the desired impact, we had to come up with an idea that could get people across the country – specifically men – to notice, recognize, and feel compelled to participate in and contribute to this vital fundraiser.

In European football, transfers of both players and coaches are the big talking point. When the Swedish national team’s coach, Janne Andersson, stepped down as head coach after seven years, the big question was what he would do next. We seized the opportunity to hint that he had something new in the works on the popular show Fotbollsmorgon. Without revealing what it was.

The news that Janne Andersson had taken on a new role sent shockwaves through the transfer market. And the revelation, a week later, that he had become the manager for Knut and ten other children battling cancer became an even bigger story.

In just one day – Football Shirt Friday, April 12 – over 5,000,000 SEK was raised for childhood cancer research. The ambitious fundraising goal of 3,500,000 SEK was exceeded by an incredible 43%, and compared to the 2023 fundraiser (2,200,000 SEK), donations increased by 127% – more than doubling the previous year's result.

In European football, transfers of both players and coaches are the big talking point. At the beginning of 2024, one of the many questions in Sweden was where former national team coach Janne Andersson would go next in his career. We saw an opportunity to leverage the interest to benefit children affected by cancer.

We seized the opportunity to hint that the previous coach of Sweden's national team had something new in the works on the popular show Fotbollsmorgon. The news that Janne Andersson had taken on a new role sent shockwaves through the transfer market. A week later, Janne Andersson held a press conference that was broadcast on Fotbollsmorgon. Janne Andersson now revealed his new assignment and went through the players he had selected for this year's team. The revelation that he had become the manager for Knut and ten other children battling cancer became an even bigger story than the rumor that he had taken on a new coaching job.

The well-planned and perfectly timed campaign activated the target audience and raised a record-breaking amount for research. Moreover, the widely discussed campaign has laid a strong foundation for Football Shirt Friday in the years to come. The initiative has gone from being relatively unknown to a well-recognized fundraising event.

In just one day – Friday, April 12 – over 5,000,000 SEK was raised for childhood cancer research. The ambitious fundraising goal of 3,500,000 SEK was exceeded by an incredible 43%, and compared to the 2023 fundraiser (2,200,000 SEK), donations increased by 127%—more than doubling the previous year's result.

The impact was massive – all major media outlets covered the initiative, and Janne Andersson was invited to the biggest morning show in Sweden to talk about Football Shirt Friday and the fundraiser for children and families affected by cancer.

60+ minutes of airtime on broad media channels.
100+ articles in Sweden’s largest newspapers and tabloids – 741% increase compared to the previous year (12 articles in 2023).
16,000,000 reading opportunities – 4,838% increase compared to the previous year (324,000 in 2023).
441 mentions of the campaign in spoken media, including radio and podcasts.
70% of the adult population in Sweden was reached by the initiative.

Most importantly, in just one day – Friday, April 12 – over 5,000,000 SEK was raised for childhood cancer research.

The high and ambitious fundraising goal of 3,500,000 SEK was exceeded by an impressive 43%.
Compared to the 2023 fundraiser, which raised 2,200,000 SEK, donations increased by an astonishing 127% – more than doubling the previous year’s result.