City in the Community coaches trained Young Leaders from El Coyol, Mexico City

Two coaches from Manchester City’ community foundation, City in the Community, have been working with 35 young leaders behind the #FutbolMatters project, over the past week. The primary goal was to equip them with the leadership, teamwork and communication skills they need to deliver life changing football projects in El Coyolito. They will work with 400 local children from the community on the newly renovated pitch.

"During the training, I learned new techniques and approaches to use in my volunteer work with the kids," said Pablo Escalante, 21 years old, who has been working with children in the local community center for four years. He was one of the Young Leaders that attended the training. "What I like the most about volunteering with football is seeing the children having fun, coming together as a team and realizing that by using something they do every day as a tool they can learn exciting new things," Pablo explained.

“If we work as a team, we can achieve many great things. ”

— Pablo Escalante

"It's amazing to see them training, working on the football pitch, a very engaged and positive group. I like to see how football makes the world a better place because the love of the game brings down barriers and make people closer", says Julie Seddon, one of the coaches responsible for the Young Leaders Training in El Coyolito.  "We want these young leaders to be inspiring role models for other kids and other young people they will train. They are real life heroes. They will be here every day to work for the long-term impact of this project", said the City in the Community coach Craig Bell, also responsible for the training. 

Day 2 of the @mancity Young Leaders Training at El Coyolito (Mexico City). We're 3 days away from the inauguration of our #FutbolMatters project in partnership with @mancity and Jóvenes Constructores de La Comunidad. #CityzensGiving #sameteam #weplaytogether

Una publicación compartida de Football and social impact (@lovefutbol_us) el 9 de Ago de 2017 a la(s) 5:35 PDT

#FutbolMatters was one of the six initiatives selected to take part in Manchester City's global Cityzens Giving campaign in November 2016. The number of votes cast by Manchester City fans around the world determined the funding distribution. When the voting closed, the Futbol Matters project by love.fútbol had received the largest number of votes and, as a result, the most amount of funding.