A university project which aims to combat racism through football has been given a major boost.

England fans are doing their bit to help Israel's Jewish and Arab communities come together through football ahead of this month's Euro 2008 qualifier.

Members of the official supporters club, Englandfans, have secured shirt donations from their local clubs to kit out the teams competing in a special Football4Peace tournament in Tel Aviv.

Football4Peace is run by Brighton University and supported by the FA and the British Council in Israel, bringing together Arab and Jewish children every year in northern Israel to encourage anti-racism and co-existence.

The project runs an annual tournament involving mixed Jewish-Arab teams, and saw the England game as the ideal opportunity to stage a special one-off tournament to promote the message of peace.

The University of Brighton's Professor John Sugden, one of the founders of the project, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for us to raise the profile of what has grown to be one of the biggest cross-community programmes in Israel.

"Having the festival the Friday before the game will give us the chance to show a really positive side to English football and its fans, as well as send a strong message that there is a genuine willingness in Israel for different communities to work toward reconciliation and peaceful co-existence through sport."