Wednesday 28 June 2017  

  • As part of Manchester City’s global community work, more than 50 young leaders from around the world, including two from Abu Dhabi, travelled to City Football Academy, Manchester

  • Supported by Etihad Airways, leaders took part in a week-long summit offering cutting edge training in community football leadership

  • Leaders are delivering community football projects to tackle social issues in their cities around the world

  • Watch the Young Leaders Summit wrap up video: https://youtu.be/9g3bmVvsrAw

Manchester, UK - Manchester City Football Club (Manchester City) and Etihad Airways have joined forces to develop youth leaders around the world, who are tackling social issues in their communities by delivering youth-led football projects.

Returning for its third year, the Cityzens Giving Young Leaders Summit welcomed more than 50 young leaders from Manchester City’s global network of community projects to City’s state of the art training facility, City Football Academy. The week-long programme saw leaders from Manchester and 11 cities in India, Africa, Southeast Asia, China, Australia and The Americas, take part in a variety of on and off-the-pitch workshops to develop and enhance their community football leadership and coaching skills.

As the Official Summit Partner, Etihad Airways connected young people from the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi with their peers by flying them over to Manchester. The young leaders are working in community football in Abu Dhabi and used this as an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skill base.

The Abu Dhabi representatives joined other leaders from projects in Beijing, Bandung (Indonesia), Mexico City, New York, Melbourne, Cape Town, Kuala Lumpur, Barranquilla (Colombia), Kolkata and São Paulo.

The delegates, aged between 16 and 30, are currently delivering community football projects addressing a range of issues affecting young people, such as gang crime, substance abuse, HIV / AIDS, obesity and creating safe spaces for children to play football.  For several delegates, this was their first experience of international travel.

Omar Berrada, Chief Operating Officer for Manchester City FC commented:

“We are extremely proud that our community footprint continues to grow and develop every year – both locally where City Football Group has Clubs in Manchester, New York City and Melbourne but also globally. This summit epitomises the power of football to change lives and we’re delighted to be working with Etihad Airways to connect the young leaders together.

“We’ve brought young leaders from different backgrounds, speaking a number of different languages and yet they all share a common goal – to make a difference through football. Using our community philosophy and years of experience, we are equipping the young leaders with the tools they need to go out and deliver life changing projects in their communities.”

Patrick Pierce, Vice President, Marketing Partnerships at Etihad Airways, said:

“Etihad Airways has a duty to contribute to communities around the world. By flying delegates into Manchester for the Cityzens Giving Young Leader Summit, we are honoured to connect young people who seek to address complex social issues in their home cities. This is another powerful example of using the medium of football to tackle a wide range of social problems and give young people a brighter future.”  

The week also saw leadership master classes from Club experts, including members from City Football Group’s Leadership Team, as well as more practical sessions on event and project management, safeguarding and monitoring and evaluation.

On the final day, leaders put all their newly found knowledge and experience into practice as they organised and delivered two highly successful football festivals for 240 local school children and Manchester City fans.

Watch the Young Leaders Summit wrap up video, here:  https://youtu.be/9g3bmVvsrAw

and view images: https://we.tl/jzHuCsvnU2

Visit www.mancity.com/community  for further details on its local and global community work.

-Ends-

Emily Jones:
emily.jones@cityfootball.com - 0161 438 7991, +44 7720342124

Etihad Airways Duty Media Officer: 
dutymediaofficer@etihad.ae - +971 50 818 9596

Since 2014, City Football Group and its partners have invested more than £1.7million into its global community work. It has seen its network of dedicated young leaders deliver community football projects in fourteen cities around the world, with more than 16,000 children and young people being positively impacted.

Etihad Airways has been Manchester City’s main club partner since May 2009. The Club’s stadium has been renamed as the Etihad Stadium, forming the centrepiece of the Etihad Campus, which encompasses a large part of the Sport City site in East Manchester.

Attendance at the Summit is also powered by Manchester City partners SAP, who support delegate cohorts from Manchester, New York, and Beijing, and SHB.

About Manchester City Football Club
Manchester City FC is an English Premier League club whose roots began in East Manchester in 1880 as St Mark’s West Gorton. It officially became Manchester City FC in 1894 and has since then gone on to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup, four League Championship titles, including two Premier League titles, and five FA Cups. Manchester City FC is one of four teams comprising the City Football Group and counts New York City FC, Melbourne City FC and Yokohama F-Marinos among its sister clubs.

Under manager Pep Guardiola, one of the most highly decorated managers in world football, the Club plays its domestic and UEFA Champions League home fixtures at the Etihad Stadium, a spectacular 55,000 seat arena that City have called home since 2003. Today, the Stadium sits on the wider Etihad Campus, which also encompasses the City Football Academy, a world-leading first team training and youth development facility located in the heart of East Manchester. Featuring a 7,000 capacity Academy Stadium, the City Football Academy is also where Manchester City Women’s Football Club and the Elite Development Squad train on a daily basis and play their competitive home games.

For more information, please visit www.mancity.com

About Etihad Aviation Group
Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) is a diversified global aviation and travel group comprising five business divisions – Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways Engineering, Etihad Airport Services, Hala Group and Airline Equity Partners. The group has minority investments in seven airlines: airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, and Swiss-based Darwin Airline, trading as Etihad Regional.

From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to, or has announced plans to serve, more than 110 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. The airline has a fleet of over 120 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, with 204 aircraft on firm order, including 71 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777Xs, 62 Airbus A350s and 10 Airbus A380s. For more information, please visit: www.etihad.com

© Press Release 2017