Man City to open Beijing academy

Premier League giant Manchester City has announced plans to open a new soccer school in Beijing in partnership with the capital’s prestigious Kaiwen Academy.

The Kaiwen Manchester City Football School, which will launch in September 2018, will see Chinese kids taught by City coaches using the same methods and philosophy employed to train the English club’s first team and academy players.

The link-up kicks off a longterm relationship between City and the Kaiwen Education Group as the Premier League leader ramps up its efforts to help develop the game in China.

Open to students entering Grade 1 and Grade 2, the school will provide Chinese youngsters with the chance to travel to Manchester each summer to train at the City Football Academy, the club’s state-of-the-art coaching campus, which opened in 2014 at a cost of around $270 million.

Damian Willoughby, senior vice president of partnerships at City Football Group, said: “We are delighted to launch the Kaiwen Manchester City Football School. Kaiwen is a prestigious institution and shares City’s commitment to playing an active role in the development of football in China.

“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.”

Kaiwen Education Group chairman Marc Xu said: “We think Manchester City is a professional football club, but more importantly, we believe sport is the cultivation process of our body, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally.

“Healthy mind and healthy body — it’s the same educational philosophy that brings Manchester City and Kaiwen together.

“We believe this partnership is significant in terms of understanding the culture of football as well as accepting and learning the sportsmanship it represents.”