KARACHI: English Club Swindon Town FC selected a young football player from Lyari for advanced coaching in England after completion of initial phase of training as per international standards in supervision of Coach Alex Pike.
It was told by Swindon Town FC delegation to Commissioner Karachi Iqbal Memon here on Monday.
The three member delegation comprised of Vice Chairman STFC Zavier Austin, Coach Alex Pike and Chris Hull of Sky Sports briefed the Commissioner about arrangements for coaching of talented young footballers of Karachi in England to train them for playing at the international level.
The young footballers of Karachi have already completed the training phase in Karachi under the supervision of Swindon Town coach Alex Pike and a young player of Lyari, Zubair, has been initially selected and he would be provided education and training of game techniques for two years in England, they informed adding that youth of Karachi would soon start journey to study and play in England.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Karachi Football Club under the patronage of the Karachi administration and Swindon Town FC in February last year in Karachi. Under the MoU training and living expenses during the two-year stay in England will be borne by Swindon Town FC.
The selected children have been given English language classes in collaboration with American Cultural Centre to overcome language barrier in receiving training in the UK.
The Karachi youth have all the skills required to compete in world level football competitions and now they will have opportunities to play football at the international level, Zavier Austin said and added, but there was a long way to go to become a world class player.
He said that the phase of selecting talented young players was very difficult but due to the keen efforts and guidance of Commissioner Karachi they had succeeded in completing the phase.
Commissioner Karachi Muhammad Iqbal Memon said that for the first time the talented football players of Karachi will get an opportunity to learn and demonstrate their skills according to international standards and requirements at the international level. ” One day we will definitely see these children of Karachi in action in international football competitions,” he added.
The Commissioner recalled that watching the football matches and sports activities in Lyari gave him the idea that these children also need opportunities to progress and learn and play at the global level and now was the time to realise the idea.
The delegation will review the performance of the talented footballers of Karachi and will also watch the exhibition games at the KPT ground.
