Race Across The World winner Alfie Watts takes on new role delivering football kit to children

  • London

  • Above: Video filmed by Alfie and his team on his mission in Malaysia

Race Across The World winner Alfie Watts has taken on his next big challenge and combined his love of travelling with his love of football to donate sports kit to children in Kuala Lumpur.

The 21-year-old from St Albans first visited the Malaysian capital as he raced 15,000km from Japan to Indonesia with best friend Owen Wood as part of the hit BBC TV show.

While there Alfie heard about a food bank charity and felt inspired to do something similar to help sport-loving children get football kit.

He set up a new international project called Football Starts With Hope which has just delivered a huge amount of donated kit to some excited young players in Malaysia.

Alfie said the initiative was backed by the “huge generosity” of clubs including Aston Villa, Manchester United and England.

Romeo Fedorushchenko joined Alfie Watts to hand out football kit Credit: Football Starts With Hope

“They donated their unsold and unused first team kits to the project this year which means we have over 250kg of football kit in Malaysia,” Alfie explained.

“Over the next two weeks, myself and a team of dedicated individuals are going to be heading to some of Kuala Lumpur’s poorest regions, settlements and areas and donating football kit, providing football workshops and hopefully putting a smile on thousands of kids’ faces,” he added.

Alfie said the project was inspired by The Lost Food Project and backed by KitAid and Charity Boots.

Speaking to ITV News London shortly ahead of his trip to Malaysia Alfie said he knew football “inside out”, adding: “If I can make a difference with football to the world, that would mean the world to me.”

Alfie’s love of football is reflected in the company he set up called RefPro which helps make football more accessible and supports and develops referees.

He hopes his expert knowledge of the sport combined with a passion to make a big difference during his trip to Kuala Lumpur will inspire hundreds of young aspiring footballers.

“We're going to be doing some fantastic football work. Everything's going to be on social media,” Alfie said.

“I have a real, real passion to do the right thing with this platform.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for years and I’m so lucky to have a platform where I can do it.

“And I won’t stop there - I will not lay down in my attempts to make the world a better place with the only way I know how - football,” he added.

Alfie started by visiting a deaf children’s community in Kuala Lumpur and learnt how to use sign language in the local language Malay.

He asked the children about their hopes and aspirations and helped create a document to be sent to the United Nations to improve deaf rights in the Far East.

"We than attended our first football clinic, an initiative run for a local housing community in the centre of Kuala Lumpur," Alfie said.

"We played, coached and got beaten in a five-a-side match, but won the penalty shootout to redeem some credibility!" he added.

Alfie said it was a "privilege" to be in Malaysia and hoped his mission would add some positivity to the world.

Find out more about the project here.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...