England star Micah Richards today vowed to help raise £1 million for sick children when he paid a surprise visit to youngsters at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

The visit was organised as part of a joint initiative between the Team England Footballers' Charity and the PFA who have pledged to raise the required funds to build a new specialist children’s rehabilitation unit.

Richards and his England team-mates have chosen to work with the PFA to help raise £1million for the new children’s hospital as part of the PFA’s ‘One Goal, One Million’ campaign, an initiative that has been set up to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the Professional Footballers' Association.

Richards said: “It’s been a privilege visiting the children and staff at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital today and I am pleased to be part of a campaign raising funds towards a new hospital facility in the city centre. It will be fantastic when it’s finished and will benefit not only children from the local community, but children from across the country”.

Talking about the Professional Footballers' Association support to the new Manchester children’s hospital, Gordon Taylor said: “This is a very special year for the PFA and its members and to celebrate we wanted to do something very special. There cannot be any better way of celebrating our 100th birthday by helping sick and injured children.

“We launched our ‘One Goal, One Million’ appeal in January and we pledged to raise £1 million through a year of fundraising activities and that is exactly what we will do.

“The year came to an exciting climax last weekend when an England Legends team played the Rest of the World at the City of Manchester Stadium with all of the proceeds going towards our appeal.

“This was followed by a fantastic Gala Dinner which raised almost a quarter of million pounds from four auction items alone.

“We hope our efforts will ensure the future happiness of hundreds of thousands of children who find themselves in the unfortunate position of needing hospital treatment.

“Football can make a difference and when you see the joy and happiness on the faces of these children when they meet a player like Micah Richards, it makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

David Cain, Director of Regeneration and Appeals, commented: “This visit has given some of our patients a tremendous boost and will be a talking point for days to come. As Christmas draws near, Micah giving up his time to visit patients at the children’s hospital is greatly appreciated. Our thanks must also go to the Professional Footballers' Association for their dedication and commitment towards raising £1 million for a children’s rehabilitation unit.”