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

Returning for the third year, the Cityzens Giving Young Leaders Summit welcomed more than 50 young leaders from Manchester City’s global network of community projects to the 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 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 enhance their skills.

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 Sao Paulo.

The delegates, between the ages of 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, and obesity, besides creating safe spaces for children to play football. This was the first international travel experience for several delegates.

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 and 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 have 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," he added.

Patrick Pierce, Vice President of 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 of the City Football Group’s Leadership Team. There were also practical sessions on event management, safeguarding, 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.

Source: WAM