A group of seven students have been presented with their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Awards at Bramall Lane.
The students, from Hillsborough College, are the first to complete the programme since the partnership between Sheffield United, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and Football League Trust was announced.
United were approved as an official DofE Centre at the beginning of 2009, allowing the club's community programme, The United Initiative, to deliver the Bronze Award to young people aged 14 to 24 from around the region.
Geoff Hurst, football project co-ordinator at the DofE, said: "It was great to see the achievements of both participants and Sheffield United recognised so effusively at Bramall Lane.
"The young people were confident and spirited, a real credit to Sheffield, I consider myself fortunate to have met them and share in celebrating their successes. Support from the Blades as a club was and has always been very evident and is much appreciated by The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
"I hope the Bronze Award holders progress to their Silver Award programmes and look forward to seeing a new group of young people embark upon their Bronze DofE programmes through Sheffield United."
The teenagers, who received their certificates, have spent twelve weeks working on the volunteering, physical, and skills categories, as well as organising an unaccompanied two-day expedition into the Peak District.
By using facilities at the Blades Academy in Shirecliffe, participants completed the physical aspect of their DofE programmes by carrying out football and fitness activities. In addition they gained computer skills after using the ICT suite at the academy, as well attending learning programmes based around food and nutrition.
Pat Piearcey, who organises the Duke of Edinburgh's Award for the United Initiative, said: "I am delighted for this group of young people and they should be very proud of their achievement.
"They have shown great enthusiasm and commitment in completing all four categories of the scheme and they certainly deserve respect for attaining this prestigious award.
"It has also been great for the club in continuing to expand its role in the community and we are now looking to build on this success by running another DofE project in April of this year."
The awardees also undertook youth work including teaching children to play musical instruments and helping with community activity at Bramall Lane on match days.
The certificates were presented by Trevor Birch, chief executive of Sheffield United, Geoff Hurst from the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, and Norman Gill from the Sheffield Duke of Edinburgh's Award office.
