The much-anticipated and sold-out fixture was originally postponed on March 12 due to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent travel restrictions, which prevented the Barça Legends from travelling into the UK.
The LFC Foundation is working closely with Barça Legends to reschedule the fixture in 2021 but as a result of the ongoing circumstances and being unable to confirm a date at present, the difficult decision was made to cancel the game and provide a refund to fans.
The official Legends charity match, which has become a highlight of LFC Foundation’s fundraising calendar, has to date raised a total of £2.8m for the Reds’ charity from its previous three fixtures staged at Anfield.
Alongside the refund process, there will also be an opportunity for fans to donate all or part of their ticket refund to the LFC Foundation to help support their COVID-19 recovery response work across the Liverpool City Region.
The COVID-19 recovery response work will focus on three key areas of support – food poverty, mental health and unemployment.
Through the ongoing partnership between the Red Neighbours team, St Andrew’s Community Network home of North Liverpool Foodbank and Fans Supporting Foodbanks, the recovery response work will support the ongoing need at the city’s Trussell Trust foodbanks as well as helping to develop Your Local Pantries.
Your Local Pantries are a sustainable long-term option for local communities, which provide members with a dignity of choice and through a weekly membership fee of £3.50 they can choose food with a value of up to £25 per week.
The mental health support will focus on early intervention support and signposting to specialist crisis providers when required. The priorities will be supporting children, young people and families who may be at risk of being tipped into crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Offering support, training, mentoring and signposting in both a virtual and physical capacity (when permitted) will be the focus of the unemployment support work. Youth unemployment is a particular area of need, with estimates predicting that over one million 16-25-year olds will be unemployed by the end of the year (2020).
For example, a £25 donation, which is the cost of a standard adult ticket, could fund an hour’s employability coaching and a £70 donation, which is roughly the cost of two adult and two junior tickets or a hospitality ticket, could help the LFC Foundation to deliver a schools and pupil mental health session.
Matt Parish, LFC Foundation director, said: "It was a difficult decision to cancel our official Legends charity match, but it was the right thing to do for our fans amidst the uncertainly.
"We hope that when it’s safe to do so we will be able to host another fantastic Legends game at Anfield, which we know our fans will support and enjoy as they have in previous years.
"On behalf of the LFC Foundation, I want to thank everyone who purchased a ticket to the game and for those of you who kindly request to donate all or part of your refund to our charity, your generosity will really make a difference to our great city.”
Ticket refunds for the Liverpool FC Legends v Barça Legends will automatically be credited to the ‘Ticket Refund’ section within supporters ID 'My Account' on Friday July 3.
An option will be available for supporters to donate all or part of their ticket refund to the LFC Foundation. An email will be sent to supporters with details of how to make a donation.
Depending on your card provider, refunds can take up to 7-10 days to show in your bank account.
Please note that refunds must be withdrawn by Monday July 27, 2020. Any refund not claimed after this date will be donated to LFC Foundation.