Young footballers from across Bradford are to come together this weekend for a special football tournament as part of Fairtrade fortnight.

About 60 youngsters from youth and religious groups from all over the city will take part in the tournament being held tomorrow at Manningham Leisure Centre.

The tournament has been organised by Bradford faith and community groups to bring young people from different backgrounds together and learn about what Fairtrade means.

The players - aged from ten to 16 - will be playing with Fairtrade footballs from Pakistan in all of the tournament's games.

A spokesman for Save the Children, one of the tournaments organisers, said: "The focus of the day will be on having fun together with a game of football.

"We think that working together as a team will help develop an understanding of each other cultures at grass roots level and also to get them aware of the importance of Fairtrade at a very early age, so that they will buy Fairtrade products throughout their lives."

Fairtrade is an international charity designed to help ensure farmers and producers from developing countries to be able to work in decent conditions and receive fair prices for their goods.

Fairtrade goods available include coffee, chocolate, sugar, bananas and pasta.

In 2002, Bradford Council passed a motion to try and achieve "Fairtrade City" status and a steering group was set up to help promote Fairtrade products in the city.

To achieve this, fifty retailers in the city must stock Fairtrade products and 25 catering outlets offer food bearing the Fairtrade mark.

The tournament comes at a time when both Bradford City and the West Riding County FA are working hard to help develop young black and Asian players.

Waseem Aslam, from Islamic Relief, said: "Nowadays British football teams are made up of players from all over the world. That's an excellent philosophy for life in general and a great message for these young people."