Soccer Aid will take place at Old Trafford again this year (it seems to alternate between being in Greater Manchester and London) with the charity match in aid of UNICEF scheduled for 15th June 2025. The big launch of the forthcoming match took place earlier in March with advertising all round Manchester to promote it and now Manchester Metrolink 3031 is joining in by becoming a mobile billboard.
This is the third year that Soccer Aid has taken out an advert on a tram (previous matches in 2021 and 2023 also saw vinyl wraps added) and this year’s design certainly has a remarkable similarity to it. In 2021 it was 3070 which carried the adverts and then in 2023 both 3047 and 3079 were the Soccer Aid trams.
Soccer Aid features celebrities and retired footballers in a match between England and the Rest of the World with proceeds going towards UNICEF projects.
The Soccer Aid advert is the fourth carried by 3031. Previous ads were for Great Manchester Run (March-August 2023), Booking.com (August-November 2023) and Pepsi (March-May 2024).
On its first day in service with the advertising vinyls 3031 was working with 3037 on the Altrincham to Piccadilly route. Its seen here at the back of the double at St Peter’s Square.
Another photo of 3031 and its Soccer Aid ad. This time its just coming onto Aytoun Street on its way to Altrincham. Tyson Fury, Wayne Rooney and Lee Mack are being used to promote the game on this end of the ad. (Both Photographs by Michael Morton, 17th March 2025)