Premier Skills is a partnership between the British Council and the Premier League which uses football as a tool to engage with and develop the skills of young people.

The programme concentrates on three areas:

			Face-to-face training for coaches and referees, using highly skilled coaches and referee trainers from the Premier League and its clubs. The participants are then supported in developing their own community-focused football projects
			Generating English language products for teachers and learners, including face-to-face training for teachers, school resources and digital content via a dedicated website;
			Linking community projects run by Premier League clubs, such as Kickz, to similar projects in other countries, building long-term partnerships that aim to change the lives of thousands of people.

Where is it taking place?

Since the first pilot in 2007, the project has been delivered across 20 countries: Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Korea, Sudan, Tunisia (including Libyan participants), Uganda and Vietnam.

What’s happened so far?

Premier Skills has already delivered tremendous impact across 20 countries. Under the first phase of the programme from 2007-2010, over 1,200 coaches were trained, nearly 300,000 young people reached, and over one million football-focused English language materials distributed.

In 2010 an enhanced coaching offer and new referee coaching element was added to the programme, as well as a new community project element based on the Premier League’s highly successful Kickz programme, linking UK community projects run by Premier League clubs to similar projects in other countries, building long-term partnerships that aim to change the lives of thousands of people.

Under the current phase of the programme, more than 1,100 coaches and referees have been trained so far, and over 5,000 teachers have received face to face training in the use of the Premier Skills English materials, applying these in the classroom to reach thousands of pupils. In addition there have been three million views of the English materials online.

The target by summer 2013 is for Premier Skills to have reached more than 500,000 young people through the coaches, and to provide access to the English language materials for millions of teachers and learners of English worldwide.

Where can I find more information?

For more details on Premier Skills, including the English language resources, vist the Premier Skills English website.

Read the Premier League's Creating Chances report 2011 and learn more about the UK initiative and how Premier Skills is at the forefront of Creating Chances international programme.