British cricketer, Marie Kelly, has won the prestigious University Campus of Football Business (UCFB) Sports Entrepreneur Competition for 2025.
Winning the whopping grand prize of up to £50,000, the Blaze – Nottinghamshire women’s team, formerly known as ‘Lightning’ – and Northern Superchargers star took home the potentially game-changing investment for her own apparel company, Versatail.
Being given the substantial grant late last month, the professional cricket player was presented as the lucky recipient following an intense deliberation process.
Expert judges chose the Birmingham-born young businesswoman from a shortlist of nine finalists selected from countless submissions.
At 29, Kelly fell just within the eligible 18-30 age bracket for the new UFCB Sports Entrepreneur Competition, with 2025 marking a decade of the further education institution here in Manchester.
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Held at Man United’s home stadium, Old Trafford, it’s safe to say that the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ felt like a fitting venue to deliver news.
The judging panel was comprised of UCFB Founder, Brendan Flood; Andrea Chilton, CEO of the English Schools Football Association; Eni Shabani, Founder of Rising Ballers; Adrian Harris, Chief Supply Chain Officer of Castore, as well as the CEO of Altrincham FC, Sam Mackenzie.
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As the founder of Versatail UK, which specialises in women’s and active headwear, including lifestyle caps and bobble hats, Kelly has taken her sporting background to create products that cater specifically to long hair and female-centric styling.
For instance, her label has helped oversee the design ‘Magni-Strip®’ trademarked technology, which allows people to adjust their ponytail heights.
Learn more about the inspiration behind the project here:
Votes were based on five criteria: market opportunity, innovation of the idea, feasibility, the pitch quality, and sustainability/impact of the idea.
Other runners-up included a non-league football app called Touchline, and even an anti-bacterial boxing glove liner conceived by a brand specialist at Amazon.
Speaking on the momentous milestone for her still relatively small start-up, Kelly said: “My main emotion is shock. I really didn’t think I would win – I was here for the experience.
The process really helped me strategise the business and really think about where I wanted to go with it. To be named the overall winner, I’m really delighted.”
“The financial prize takes a bit of the weight off my mind about how to supply the demand that I’ve already got for my products and my caps. Hopefully, I can just really develop the product so it’s even better and service even more women and girls in sports.”
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As for UCFB, aforementioned CEO Flood went on to add: “As we celebrate 10 years in Manchester, we want to celebrate not just our own journey but empower the young entrepreneurs who will shape the future of sport.
“This competition reflected everything UCFB stands for: ambition, innovation, and the belief that the sports industry is powered by creative ideas. The calibre of the entries was incredible, so everyone who made the final judging stage deserves immense credit, but Marie was the unanimous choice overall.
“She has done an incredible job establishing her brand, and we hope that this financial reward can help Versatail continue to cater for the diverse needs of women and girls in sport at an even greater scale.
You can see the full video from the most recent event down below.
If you’re looking to make moves in this space, keep your eye out for when entries open for the UCFB Entrepreneur prize in 2026.
Barca or back home? – Marcus Rashford makes feelings known on his future
Danny Jones
Marcus Rashford looks to have made his feelings on his future at Barcelona perfectly clear in a recent interview after winning his first senior championship and second trophy in Spain.
Rashford, a lifelong Man United fan and Carrington academy graduate, is only on loan at the Catalan club, but Barca does have the option of buying him on a permanent transfer.
A few rumours had been circulating that the newly crowned La Liga champions were unsure about activating that clause; however, these looked to have been largely quashed, and if there was any doubt around whether or not most fans want him to stay, he certainly helped put that to bed on Sunday night.
More importantly, the Manchester-born England international and still-growing European star has said, in no uncertain terms, that he wants to stay at the Camp Nou.
As you can see, during his post-match interviews after lifting the league title with the Spanish giants, Rashford was asked whether he would like Barcelona to sign him full-time.
While he may have acknowledged that the proposed permanent purchase price – said to be between £26-30 million – and his wages (of which Barca are covering in full after he agreed to a 25% pay cut) may still prove to be an obstacle, he would like to remain with the Blaugrana.
Speaking further with BBC Sport, the 28-year-old said: “I always had an admiration for Barcelona, that was my second team, so yeah, it’s a dream to come here, and to win is so important to me.”
He also confessed that finally winning a league title in such a big way, against their biggest rivals, Real Madrid, is a huge moment in his career.
In case you missed it, ‘Rashy’ opened the scoring in the 264th edition of ‘El Clásico’ with an absolute wondergoal that is one to behold from pretty much any angle…
Yeah, as far as worldies go, you won’t find many better than that in his catalogue, though he has scored a few fantastic free-kicks over the years.
Taking his tally for the season to 14 goals and 14 assists across all competitions – a fitting figure given it’s the same one as his current shirt number – one of his best overall returns in a few years.
Now well and truly within those ‘prime years’ for a footballer, it’s more crucial than ever that he not just regain his form but maintain, especially with a World Cup looming, so it’s no surprise that he’s looking to continue his journey there.
You can watch the highlights from the latest Clásico clash and title-deciding match down below.
These are the games players dream of playing in, let alone scoring in such style.
England football fans warned as ticket scams skyrocket ahead of World Cup
Emily Sergeant
England football fans are being warned to remain vigilant, as ticket scams skyrocket ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup merely weeks from officially kicking off in the North America and Mexico on 11 June, football fans are being urged to guard against scams, as newly-released data from Lloyds has revealed that football ticket scams increased by more than a third (36%) during the current Premier League season.
The findings – which are based on thousands of scam cases between October 2025 and March 2026 – showed that fraudsters focused heavily on popular teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea.
Fraudsters also repeatedly targeted supporters looking for tickets to some of the most in-demand football matches in the UK, which is why, with the upcoming World Cup set to be one of the most speculated sporting events of the year, scam warnings are being issued.
It’s anticipated that fraudsters will target the big-name fixtures and attempt to exploit international demand, according to Lloyds.
England football fans are being warned as ticket scams skyrocket ahead of the World Cup / Credit: Picryl
On average, it was revealed that victims lost £215 during the current Premier League football season, but some fans even paid thousands of pounds for ‘season tickets’ or VIP seats that never existed.
Hopeful football fans are expected to pay much more for expensive World Cup tickets, meaning the potential loss for victims could be ‘devastating’.
As scammers know demand for World Cup tickets will be huge, it’s expected that they will mimic the methods seen in club level scams – including fake listings on social media, pressure to act fast, and requests for bank transfers.
“Fraudsters thrive on urgency and target fans looking for hard to get tickets for big name fixtures,” explained Liz Ziegler, who is the Fraud Prevention Director at Lloyds.
“Most of the football ticket scams we see start on social media, before the criminal moves the buyer onto WhatsApp and insists on a bank transfer to pay. It’s incredibly convincing, and we don’t want fans to lose their money trying to support their team.
“We’re urging supporters to stay alert and stick to official ticketing channels.”
Ahead of the World Cup, Lloyds and the Home Office have teamed up to take action to protect fans by highlighting how criminals will try to exploit the excitement – with Lord Hanson adding: “Our new fraud strategy sets out how we will use every tool at our disposal to disrupt and dismantle criminal operations, bring fraudsters to justice and strengthen support for victims.”
Danny Jones -
6th November 2025 
