Andrew Pamorada | FCF
In a bid to strengthen the foothold of football in the country, Unilever through its men’s shampoo brand CLEAR has formalized its regional partnership with English Premier League side Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) to hold events that would “inspire the youth” to enjoin themselves to take part in the “Beautiful Game.”
Kicking off their freshly-inked multi-year partnership in the country is the CLEAR-Manchester United Football Camp to be supervised by the MUFC Soccer School, whose academy system in England has refined the games of numerous legendary Red Devils names such as Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and 2013 FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
Jamie Reigle (Andrew Pamorada | FCF)
The three-day camp, featuring the top 32 young footballers in the country, is the culmination of the four-legged search in the country’s key cities that will be handled by UEFA-licensed coaches and will practically demonstrate the “Man-U way” to the aspiring booters aged 17 and above.
Playing host to the tryouts will be Cebu (March 22, Iloilo (March 23), Davao (March 29), and Metro Manila (March 30), where only 100 participants per leg will be allowed to strut their wares.
As an incentive to the top six aspirants during the the national camp to be held on April 25-27, they will have their chance to play among the stars of the United Football League (UFL) in the upcoming CLEAR Dream Match later on this year.
Manchester United’s Managing Director for Asia-Pacific Jamie Reigle said that this partnership will spur more opportunities for the club’s expansion in the country, as well as for the development of the sport in the country.
We understand that football is not (yet) the number one sport (in the country), so first of all there’s an opportunity to expose Filipinos to Manchester United (and) hopefully they tell their friends and their family and they bring in new fans. And specifically with the Dream Match and the camp, we think that’s a great opportunity to get good exposure for the club and good exposure for the people of the Philippines to see what we’re all about,” Reigle said.
According to Reigle, the club has made strides in the region as far back as 25 years ago, but has recently opened their club’s office in Hong Kong in 2012 and has their coaches based in Singapore.
