Manchester City has announced the return of their global charity initiative Cityzens Giving, where fans will select six international projects deserving of £400,000-worth of funding.
The programme is aimed at community football projects around the world that have been created to tackle issues affecting young people, including substance abuse, unemployment and disability inclusion.
It is third year that the City Football Group – which also includes New York City FC and Melbourne City FC – has run the initiative and it will now fund 12 projects worldwide.
City manager Pep Guardiola and captain Vincent Kompany launched the project with a campgin video on the club’s YouTube page this morning.
City Group chief executive Ferran Soriano said: “Our Cityzens Giving initiative gives our fans around the world the chance to empower young people through the universal language of football.
“We are proud to support young community football leaders doing inspiring work in their communities and are delighted that so many fans have chosen to participate.”
The Manchester project will once more be Boots and Beats, a campaign that uses football and music to engage unemployed young people in the Greater Manchester area, connecting them with vocational training and volunteering opportunities.
The other projects this year spread from New York to Mexico City, Beijing to Melbourne, while City already supports projects in cities such as São Paulo, Cape Town and Kuala Lumpur.
The announcement comes as the City charity marks its 30th year in the community, and third of the Cityzens Giving iniative.
The project has already helped more than 160,000 children worldwide and by 2017 the total funding for Cityzens Giving will have reached £1.5 million.
Last month, Cityzens Giving won the Corporate Citizenship Campaign of the Year award at the annual Beyond Sport awards which support and reward the best worldwide projects for positive social change through sport.
