Blue moon in Beijing: Premier League leaders give thumbs up for China academy to teach football the ‘Manchester City way’
City coaches will pass on Pep Guardiola’s playing style from next September with pupils also set to travel to train at the club’s Manchester academy
The Kaiwen Manchester City Football School promises to “replicate the training philosophy implemented by both City’s Academy teams and that of Pep Guardiola’s first team squad”.
Set to launch in the Chinese capital in September 2018, the new project will offer a “unique curriculum for aspiring young footballers” with City Football Schools coaches in charge of training sessions delivered alongside traditional education.
Damian Willoughby, senior vice-president of partnerships at City Football Group (CFG), said: “We are excited to extend Manchester City’s presence in Chinese education and provide more young players with the opportunity to improve their talents through playing the City way.”
The club and the Beijing Kaiwen Academy, the Kaiwen Education Group’s school in Beijing, were already partners and news of a Beijing Kaiwen Academy Manchester City Football School was first announced on the school’s website in May.
The state-of-the-art school, which opened in August 2016, is located in Beijing’s Haidian district and offers bilingual Mandarin and English education and boarding facilities to exclusively Chinese pupils.