Premier league football club Manchester United and The Children's Society have launched a three-year partnership to raise funds to improve the lives of children in the UK.

At the partnership's launch last week, 24 children and young people met their football heroes, including Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlo Tevez and Wayne Rooney.

The children from Lancashire Children's Rights in Preston, Safe in the City in Manchester, St Christopher's in Solihull and Unity in Partington were also able to watch the footballers in a training session.

David Gill, Chief Executive of Manchester United, explained: "Our new partnerships will enable us to work with our chosen charities to raise a significant amount of money throughout the three-year period and support a number of important projects.

"We are extremely proud of these partnerships and the young people who will be supported."

Manchester United is also supporting The Children's Society's Good Childhood Inquiry into the state of childhood in Britain, launched earlier in the year.

Bob Reitemeier, Chief Executive of The Children's Society, said: "We are delighted at this fantastic opportunity to work with Manchester United to showcase and highlight the work of The Children's Society and The Good Childhood Inquiry. We're delighted to have been awarded this premier partnership."

Manchester United is encouraging fans and supporters to submit their favourite childhood memory to the Hundreds and Thousands campaign being run by The Children's Society to find out the nation's best childhood experiences so that children today can benefit from them.