Premier Skills brings Brazilian talent to Chelsea FC
14 January 2011
A teenage football fan from the city of Ouro Fino in Brazil has won a once-in-a-lifetime competition to visit the UK this month to watch his favourite team Chelsea play at Stamford Bridge.
16 year-old Caio Ribeiro won a competition organised by the British Council and Premier League through their Premier Skills programme. The competition invited entrants to name their favourite Premier League football club and then create a video or presentation showing connections between their home town or city and the town or city where their favourite Premier League club is based.
Entries were received from all around the world, from Belgrade to Buenos Aires. Caio’s winning entry, along with the runner up entries, can be viewed at:
http://premierskills.britishcouncil.org/fans/competition-entries
Premier Skills uses football as a tool to engage with and develop the skills of young people in community coaching and English language skills. The English language element of the programme focuses on using the motivational power of football-based content, and the huge global interest in the Premier League, to support English language learning through a range of free materials and resources for teachers and learners of English around the world. Already, over one million materials have been distributed worldwide through the programme.
The competition forms part of this offer, providing participants with the opportunity to apply their English language skills in a creative way to demonstrate their passion for their Premier League club, with the fantastic prize of getting to see their favourite players in the flesh.
In addition to watching Chelsea in action against Blackburn Rovers this Saturday 15th January as a VIP guest of the club and the Premier League, Caio has also visited Chelsea’s training ground, experiencing first hand their state of the art facilities, watching the first team train and meeting staff and players. He was presented with a signed, personalised Chelsea shirt by his fellow countryman, Brazilian International midfielder Ramires, who enjoyed hearing Caio’s story and spoke at length about his own journey to Chelsea and what he has learnt at the club.
Ramires said:
“I know that from when I arrived at Chelsea community work is an important part of the club. It’s an honour to welcome Caio to the training ground here in Cobham and I congratulate him on his outstanding work. He also believes that football can make a big difference to people’s lives and it is good that people from all over the world feel this strong connection with Chelsea.
“I would also like to thank the Premier League and the British Council for their great work and helping make today special and a day Caio will remember for a long time.”
Caio said:
“This visit is a dream come true for me. I was amazed by the training facilities at Chelsea. The technology is fantastic. It was brilliant to be given a Chelsea shirt with my name on it too.
“It was an honour to meet the Premier League players. Ramires is my favourite Chelsea player and a role model for me and other young Brazilians. To meet him was fantastic. He was really nice and talked to me about living and playing in England. He wished me all the best! Peter Cech also stopped and talked to me. It was amazing to meet all my favourite players.
“Visiting London has been really interesting. I love it here. It's so different to my home town, especially the buildings.”
Caio also visited the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in Central London and got the chance to meet Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, a fellow Chelsea fan. Hugh Robertson said:
“The Premier League has a big global appeal so it’s no surprise that this competition produced entries from all over the world, with Caio being a particularly appropriate winner given that Brazil will host the next World Cup.
“Premier Skills uses the power of football to help improve young people’s lives overseas. Not only does it develop their leadership skills, by training them to be community coaches, but it improves their English language skills too. I hope Caio enjoys the rest of his trip to the UK, and meeting his Chelsea heroes and sees Chelsea win on Saturday.”
Michael Houten, Premier Skills English language materials development manager, said:
“Football and English are two of the truly global languages of our time, and the incredible response we received to this competition shows how popular both the Premier League and learning English are to millions of people around the world. Through his winning film Caio amply demonstrates this passion and appetite. Now he will deservedly get to experience the thrill of watching his team Chelsea whilst of course having a chance to brush up on his English language skills!”
Notes to Editors:
Premier Skills is a collaborative project between the Premier League and the British Council, which uses football (and the interest there is in the Premier League) as a tool to help develop both community coaching and English language skills.
A range of football-based English language learning materials that include a dedicated Premier Skills website www.britishcouncil.org/premierskills have been created under the programme. These include downloadable resources for teachers and learners and a Premier Skills self-access schools pack, providing materials for teachers and learners of English. These resources enable people around the world to develop and build upon their English language skills. The resources also use the motivational power of football to develop classroom materials that allow teachers and learners to explore key social issues such as health and social inclusion.
The community coaching side of the project was piloted in Egypt and India in late 2007 and early 2008. Thereafter projects were delivered across Africa (in Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and Uganda), in India (New Delhi, Kolkata, Goa and Kerala) and across Asia (China, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam). Second phase courses then took place in India, Egypt, Kenya, China, Vietnam and Uganda.
Premier Skills has already achieved huge impact, with 1,000 coaches trained, nearly 300,000 young people reached, and over one million football-focused English language materials distributed globally.
For more on Premier Skills visit: www.britishcouncil.org/premierskills
The Premier League is involved in a wide range of community projects both in the UK and overseas. For more information on these, see: http://creatingchancesnews.premierleague.com/
About the British Council:
- The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build opportunity and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people. We work in the Arts, English, Education and Society, including science and sport - and in the process contribute to the security and prosperity of the UK and the countries where we work. Last year we engaged face to face with 18.4 million people and reached 652 million. We are a non-political organisation which operates at arm’s length from government. Our total turnover in 2009/10 was £705 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the British government was £211 million. For every £1 of government grant we receive, we earn £2.50 from other sources. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org
For more information on Premier Skills contact Mark Moulding, British Council Press Officer, Tel: 020 7389 4889 Email: mark.moulding@britishcouncil.org
