August 16 – City Football Group (CFG), owner of Manchester City, has committed to funding a Special Olympics project in Beijing, China, for the next three years.
The Special Olympics project is aimed at young people with intellectual disabilities and is part of the club’s Cityzens Giving campaign, which sees fans vote for one of six projects who’ll receive a share of a £400,000 charitable fund.
CFG has been putting down roots in China having taken on a 13% investment from a China Media Capital-led consortium last year. Man City toured China pre-season playing Borussia Dortmund and working hard with local media and partners to establish the club brand in the country.
The start of the link was after 24 Young Leaders from the ‘Special Olympics East Asia Unified Schools’ in Beijing were invited to access a three-day Cityzens Giving leadership course offering cutting edge training in community football.
The club had already linked up with Special Olympics projects in Beijing and Shenzhen to deliver community football training for local young coaches and staff and trainees had run a community football festival at a City fan festival in Beijing.
The ‘Special Olympics Unified Schools Football Training’ programme in Beijing, will be a new Cityzens Giving project and will see “Young Leaders use the power of football to improve health, build friendships and create an inclusive environment for children with and without intellectual disabilities.”
Tom Pitchon, City Football Group’s Foundation Director, said: “Manchester City was founded as a community Club over 120 years ago and those community links remain as strong as ever. Today, we are supporting communities in Manchester, through all City Football Group’s clubs and in cities around the world.
“We are excited to be partnering with the Special Olympics in Beijing to deliver a sustainable and valuable project in the local community. The power of football cannot be underestimated and this project is the perfect example of how it can be used as a tool for social integration and inclusion.”
Ann Huang, Senior Manager of Sports at Special Olympics East Asia, said: “We are excited to be announced as a Cityzens Giving project, as we share City Football Group’s ethos of making a difference through football. We are passionate about empowering people with intellectual disabilities to become accepted and valued members of their communities, which leads to a more respectful and inclusive society for all. Using football as a catalyst, this project will tackle inactivity, injustice and intolerance.”
Cityzens Giving currently funds projects run by young leaders in Manchester, New York, Melbourne, Kolkata, Cape Coast, São Paulo, Kuala Lumpur, Cape Town and Barranquilla. The total funding commitment between 2015 and 2017, by City Football Group and its partners, is now more than £1.5 million, funding twelve community football projects worldwide.
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