Manchester United Legend Peter Schmeichel to grace Airtel Rising Stars Championships Clinic
• Club’s ambassador to attend finals of the first ever Airtel Rising Stars Africa Championship
• Selected girls and boys from nine African countries to attend Nairobi soccer clinic
• Manchester United Soccer Schools name four UEFA qualified coaches to manage clinic
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 23, 2012/ — Manchester United has confirmed that one of its most decorated club legends, Peter Schmeichel will attend the inaugural Airtel Rising Stars African Championships (http://www.airtel.com) and Soccer Clinic In Nairobi.
Schmeichel, a former Manchester and Denmark International goalkeeper who won five Premier League titles, three FA Cups and the Champions League during a trophy-laden eight-year spell at Old Trafford, was appointed as a club ambassador last month and joined an elite group of former players such as Sir Bobby Charlton, Dwight Yorke, Bryan Robson, Gary Neville, and Andy Cole in promoting the club globally.
He will attend the final matches of the first-ever Airtel Rising Stars Africa Championship on the 25th of August in Nairobi. His tour is part of an exclusive partnership between Airtel and Manchester United in several African countries. Part of the partnership agreement enables Airtel to tap into the technical expertise provided by the club through Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) managed clinics.
The clinics are focused on providing an innovative and specialized training program that harnesses the natural capabilities of each of the selected young talents from several African countries.
Speaking about the planned visit, Airtel Africa’s Chief Marketing officer, Andre Beyers said: “The Airtel Rising Stars program was structured to provide a platform for upcoming talent to showcase their raw talent and improve through interaction with coaches and top players. We are delighted that Manchester United has provided the opportunity for Africa’s future stars to interact with a soccer icon of Schmeichel’s stature and experience.”
Commenting on the Airtel Rising Stars programme Manchester United’s Commercial Director, Richard Arnold said: “We are pleased to be able to team up with Airtel Africa to bring this fantastic project to the Africa. Now in its second year we hope that the programme has gone to enthuse some of Manchester United’s 147 million followers across Africa. I am sure the introduction of an intercontinental tournament and the presence of Peter Schmeichel at the first ever Airtel Rising Stars Africa Championship final will be an inspirational experience. Its popularity has seen the number of registrations overtake those of last year’s tournament, demonstrating the strength of the Airtel and Manchester United partnership.”
At the same time, Manchester United Soccer Schools have named the four coaches who will manage the coaching clinic in Nairobi. The named coaches are; Mathew Gregory, Michael Beckham, Stuart McClarty and Steve Nixon.
This is the second Soccer Clinic organized by Airtel and managed by the Manchester United Soccer Schools program. The first clinic program took place last year in Dar es salaam, Tanzania and Libreville, Gabon. The clinic offers the budding stars with the requisite training to help them achieve their optimum level whilst learning to play the Manchester United way.
About Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited (http://www.airtel.com) is a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G services, fixed line, high speed broadband through DSL, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G mobile services. Bharti Airtel had over 257 million customers across its operations at the end of June 2012. To know more please visit, http://www.airtel.com
About Manchester United
Manchester United is the world’s most popular football club, with an estimated 659 followers and was recently named by Forbes magazine as the most valuable sports club in the world. Founded in 1878, the Club has won a record 19th English league championships to add to its record 11 English FA Cups, 3 European Cups, 1 European Cup Winners’ Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 4 English League Cups. Its Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, is the most successful manager in British history. Off the field, the Club enjoys similar success with record turnover for a British club and the highest operating profit levels in world football.
