Dan Magness - one of the world’s top professional football freestylers has today announced an incredible freestyle football 24 Hours World Record attempt. Taking place in the heart of London, on 30 April 2009, the challenge will be staged in association with the all-new PlayStation Freestylers initiative. This is an online competition hosted on www.youtube.com/psfreestylers, set up to inspire the next generation of youngsters to get involved in freestyle football.

PlayStation will be constructing a spectacular stage in Covent Garden, London, to hold this extraordinary freestyle record. Kick off will start at 14.00hrs on Thursday 30 April, as Magness attempts to keep a ball airborne throughout the night and into the following afternoon, come rain or shine.

The official Guinness World Record title is called the ‘longest time to control a football’. Martinho Eduardo Orige from Brazil currently holds the record which stands at 19.5 hours. If Magness goes on to beat this record by 4.5 hours his management team has estimated this will take him in the region of 250,000 touches.

Twenty five year old Magness, from Milton Keynes, has already started an intense six week training regime to help prepare himself for this gruelling attempt. An Olympian diet (six small meals a day) compliments a marathon style training programme. By the time the training programme is complete Magness will have lost in excess of three stone. The training includes getting up in the middle of the night to keep the ball up for 12 hours, plus 15 mile runs immediately followed by six hours of non-stop ‘kick-ups’, keeping a ball airborne.

Magness explains, “Freestyle football has been my life since I was 11 years old, and I have been a professional freestyler for six years now. Since making this my fulltime profession the 24 Hour World Record has always been my dream. If I can break this record and help PlayStation attract new people to get involved in freestyle football, it will mean all the hard work has been worth it!

“It really will be tough. If I have a millisecond lapse in concentration – all the training will count for nothing. Keeping focussed will make or break this record attempt.”

Magness added, “It’s great to see PlayStation pushing the sport forward by encouraging more youngsters to get active. I’m really looking forward to watching the skills of the young freestylers on the YouTube site and hopefully witness some brand new tricks. As freestyle football is a fast growing sport, and with such an amazing prize for the winners on offer, I’m certain the standard will be very high.”

Magness is one of the judges of the PlayStation Freestylers online competition to find the best young freestylers in Great Britain. Magness will join the national winners, as they head off for a live European Final, taking place in Italy. The overall winner will be whisked off to Rome’s Stadio Olimpico to become the official ball carrier at this year’s UEFA Champions League Final (27 May, 2009), with all the finalists rewarded with tickets to watch football’s most prestigious Final in Europe.

Magness and PlayStation are inviting male and female freestylers between the age of 13 and 16 to enter by sending a video clip of their freestyle skills to the website www.youtube.com/psfreestylers. The competition is now open with 10 May 2009 set as the closing date for entries.