China's ClubFootball has joined forces with MasterCard Worldwide to kick off MasterCard ClubFootball Junior Football Winter Courses.
According to Rowan Simons, chairman of ClubFootball (Beijing Wanguo Qunxing FC), "In the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when so many will be focusing on professional sport, MasterCard have seen the real light in coming out in support of amateur football/sport to help demonstrate that sport really is for everybody!"
The project is organized in association with Sina Qinzi Zhongxin and the Middle School Times and not only offers Beijing youngsters free and discounted football coaching courses but is also a step towards a brighter future for amateur football.
The winter courses mark just one part of a campaign by ClubFootball and MasterCard Worldwide to support amateur football, which over the last 3 years has seen ClubFootball build a fully fledged league and a number of coaching academies to broaden the appeal and scale of amateur football for men, ladies and children, all of which have been backed by MasterCard Worldwide.
MasterCard's sponsorship of the Winter Courses allows for 88 free places and over 350 discounted places which are available to more than 500,000 students through a prize competition with Sina and the Middle School Times. Other prizes on offer courtesy of MasterCard are 2008 ClubFootball Memberships bringing discounts at more than 120 locations around Beijing and worth RMB100.
ClubFootball is Beijing's first joint venture football club and has broken new ground in developing the game of football in China through a variety of high-profile and grass roots projects and initiatives that have earned the company recognition throughout the business, sporting and wider community.
Sina Qinzi Zhongxin is part of Chinese Internet portal Sina.com. It provides a wealth of specialized knowledge, services and information for parents and parents-to-be designed to cover every possible aspect of their child's life.
Middles School Times is part of the Beijing Youth Daily group. The newspaper was founded by the Education Committees of Beijing and Tianjin. It is circulated in all of the capital's middle schools and has the largest circulation for a newspaper of its type.
