Young football fans are being urged to “sign for the Dons” as part of an exciting new scheme.
Aberdeen FC introduced its AberDNA membership two years ago and more than 6,000 supporters have since snapped them up, getting access to special rewards.
On the back of that success, the club is today launching AberDNA Junior memberships for under-12s – and they are free.
Youngsters will get two free match tickets for next season and as part of the experience, they will be invited to Pittodrie to officially “sign their contract” and be unveiled as AFC’s latest signing.
The scheme will initially be open to those with family links to the club, such as children of existing AberDNA members.
It will then be rolled out across the north-east via the club’s community trust, which is aiming to attract some of the 45,000 children it works with through 200 schools.
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The club’s commercial director Rob Wicks told the Evening Express he hopes between 8,000 and 10,000 under-12s sign up.
He added: “It’s a pioneering iniative. We want to nurture the supporters of tomorrow and show them that Pittodrie is the place to be – and that our new home at Kingsford will be the place to be.”
The club formed a partnership with US team Atlanta United, which has its own e-sports player.
Inspired by that, Mr Wicks said the Dons could capitalise on the growing success of competitive game console tournaments to draw in young fans.
He added: “When you look at e-sports, it is very popular with under-12s and we can see that utilising e-sports is a great opportunity to get that age group coming to the club at an early age.
“We’re working with the Scottish Premier Football League on that.
“We could reach a stage where we hold preliminary e-sports tournaments at Pittodrie.”
Player Dean Campbell is launching the AberDNA Junior campaign.
Another membership, called AberDNA Youth, is also being introduced for supporters aged between 12 and 21.
Visit afc.co.uk/aberdna for details.