AfrAsia Barcelona Club, a pioneering football program

Football First, AfrAsia Bank and McDonalds Restaurants announced today the launch of a pioneering football programme. This project is a first in Mauritius as well as the sub-Saharan Africa region, giving a once in a lifetime opportunity to young football fans.

“This exceptional opportunity has been made possible by the generous participation of our main sponsor, AfrAsia Bank and McDonalds. We are also proud to receive the kind support of the Hon. Satyaprakash (Devanand) Ritoo, Minister of Youth & Sports, the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Jugdish Phokeer and Mr. Michael Glover from the Trust Fund for Excellence in Sport. The goal of AfrAsia Barcelona Club is to identify tomorrow’s footballing stars of Mauritius and to raise the level of football throughout the island”, explains David Callow, Director of Football First.

AfrAsia Barcelona Club consists of three key phases and is a 2 year sponsored programme:

1. Phase one aims to select the most talented 24 young footballers in Mauritius, aged from 12 to 14 and provide them with one week training in Barcelona by the FC Barcelona youth coaches at their training facilities.

Open trials are FREE OF COST for all 10-14 year old boys and will be held over a four week period in stadiums around the island. Applications are to be distributed in participating schools and in all McDonalds restaurants.

2. Phase two which is the most important will begin in September 2014, with AfrAsia Barcelona Club establishing an FC Barcelona-style football academy across the island in the same regional areas as the trials and managed and run by the coaching staff of Football First. In June 2015, AfrAsia Barcelona Club will then be seeking to secure affiliation with FCBescola, the official Football School of FC Barcelona. As of today’s date, only 12 such schools have been granted this honour worldwide and no sub-Saharan country has been afforded this privilege.

3. Phase three includes a two week December football camp in Mauritius in which official youth coaches from FC Barcelona will join the coaching staff of Football First and train an estimated 400 boys.

Deputy CEO and Head of Global Banking & Treasury Markets, Ben Padayachy, comments “Our affiliation to this one-of-a kind sponsorship is a thought-through strategic move as we develop our global reach. This is a first for Mauritius as well as for AfrAsia Bank who enters the football sphere and we are proud of being at the foreground of such developments for this sport on the island. As part of our CSR philosophy, our priority remains children education and development and we believe that this project is the perfect fit to identify the best talents and give them the required high level of training, support and capabilities to transform them into tomorrow’s football stars.”

“McDonald’s has always supported sport events on an international level; being the official sponsor of the FIFA world Cup, the Olympic games, UEFA EURO. Today, it is a privilege for us to extend this tradition to our local community and to connect with Mauritians through their favourite sport: football. Thus, by sharing our passion for football, we are encouraging our children to maintain a healthy lifestyle while living their dream. So, who will be the next ‘Messi’?” says Audrey Rose, Marketing Executive at McDonald’s.

With the upcoming World Cup 2014, AfrAsia Barcelona Club is also set to give as much local excitement and joy to the football fans for both parents and children.