New Football Pools operator Sportech plc has secured a distribution deal with the UK’s Trinity Mirror Group, publisher of five national newspapers, gaining access to an estimated readership of 8 million readers each week.

Under the terms of the partnership, the New Football Pools will initially be reintroduced to Daily Mirror readers in the paper’s four page Mania football supplement in the first week of January with subsequent weekly editorial columns each Tuesday which will include that week’s football pools coupon.

In addition Spot The Ball will also be revived in the Daily Mirror, using classic football images from the paper’s extensive football photo archive. Both Classic Football and Spot The Ball games will also be available to play on the Mirrorfootball.co.uk website, along with a host of additional pay-to-play, football-related predictor games.

“Many of the readers of The Daily Mirror will have played, or known, the Classic Football Pools and Spot the Ball in the past, and we are pleased to be able to introduce these traditional games, in conjunction with Trinity Mirror into the newspaper in a simple, easy to play format,” said Ian Penrose, CEO of Sportech.

“This represents another important step in revitalising the Football Pools, at the start of this important World Cup year.”

The Football Pools and Spot The Ball competitions are expected to be launched across Trinity Mirror’s regional titles throughout 2010.

“The Football Pools and Spot the Ball are classic games which are part of the fabric of football history in this country,” said Conor Hanna, Deputy Editor of the Daily Mirror. “We are delighted to be reviving them in the Daily Mirror’s sports pages and across all our editorial and gaming platforms.”

Trinity Mirror’s national newspapers reach an estimated 16% of the UK population, approximately 8 million readers every week, and include popular titles such as the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and The People, while in Scotland the company also publishes the Daily Record and Sunday Mail.

Sportech already has existing media partnerships with UK newspapers the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail.

Shares in Sportech plc (Co. Profile) (LSE:SPO) have climbed 5.86% to 58.75 pence per share in London this morning, having jumped 14.43% in trading yesterday in London.