Hat Trick of mascots for Women's EURO 2022 in England: Kai, Ashley and Robyn

A Hat Trick team of UEFA Women's EURO 2022 mascots has been unveiled, and they will star in the virtual world ahead of the finals in England.

Kai, Robyn and Ashley will greet fans in England from 6 to 31 July. Before that, they appear as interactive characters in The Road to UEFA Women's EURO game on hit children's gaming platform Roblox, plus star in a skills challenge and edu-tainment series on YouTube alongside Europe's top players, which will be distributed via the UEFA Football in Schools programme.

Together, the three mascots are known as Hat Trick. Each has a distinct personality – and squad number. Kai (No4) boasts intelligence, captain Ashley (No7) has strength and Robyn (No10) is blessed with skill. In the YouTube series they will appear alongside 12 of European football's biggest names including current UEFA Women's Player of the Year Alexia Putellas (Barcelona and Spain), UEFA Women's EURO 2017 winner Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal and Netherlands) and another much-decorated home star Lucy Bronze (Manchester City and England).

"Europe's next top players are out there right now, and the UEFA's Women's EURO mascot campaign could be the initiative that inspires them to fall in love with the game," said Alexia Putellas. "It's been brilliant to play a role in encouraging children to be active. We want to ensure that everybody, everywhere has the opportunity to play football, so it's exciting that this initiative is being rolled out in schools across Europe.

"But there is no better way to inspire the next generation than by delivering a world-class, entertaining tournament, and we certainly aim to make the UEFA Women's EURO an unmissable event this summer."

Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA marketing director added: "The UEFA Women's EURO promises to be a record-breaking tournament. It has the potential to inspire millions of girls and boys to play football, so it is important for us to take the tournament to the platforms and spaces they occupy. We hope our new gaming experience will capture the imagination of children and get them to interact with football and UEFA Women's EURO in a way that we have never explored before.

"But of course, we want them playing football in real life as well as engaging online. We hope by that by also putting Europe's best players at the heart of this campaign alongside our Hat Trick mascots, that we will give girls and boys across Europe new heroes to emulate."

The Hat Trick mascot campaign supports one of the main goals of Time for Action the UEFA Women's Football Strategy – to double girls' and women’s participation in football by 2024.