Press release 5 February 2009

PREMIER LEAGUE AND BRITISH COUNCIL LAUNCH INNOVATIVE NEW COACHING PROJECT IN BOTSWANA

The Premier League’s leading international grassroots project Premier Skills, run in partnership with the British Council, has this week launched in Botswana.

Premier Skills is an innovative coaching project that not only helps develop the coaching skills of young coaches, both male and female, but also teaches them to use football as a tool for skills and community development. The project, which includes support from local partners, will also work to develop the coaches’ English language ability.

The Gaborone project is being led by former Premier League star Robbie Earle. Earle will be assisted by Community Coaches Adam Lea and Alexander Cawley from Portsmouth FC, and Victor Bettinelli from Fulham FC. All of the coaches involved in Premier Skills are UEFA qualified coaches.

For the Premier League, Premier Skills represents its flagship international development programme and the Gaborone course is one of 20 that will be rolled out by the end of 2009 across Africa, India, China and South East Asia.

Premier Skills was successfully piloted in Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, and Delhi and Kolkata in India. Subsequent evaluation has found that 19 of the original participants in Egypt have already secured jobs delivering community football coaching as a result of the training that they received on Premier Skills.

With this successful model now in place, a number of projects will be rolled out across Africa, India, China and South East Asia between now and 2010.

Premier Skills projects are always run in conjunction with local partners and the Gaborone course will be supported by the Botswana Football Association

As part of the training component of the course, participants will be able to develop their English language skills and subsequently build upon these using the suite of Premier Skills multi-media English language materials. These include a dedicated Premier Skills website, which when launched will also feature an online community space for participants.

Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore said:

“At home the Premier League and our Clubs have a long-held commitment and reputation for investing in community and education programmes. Given our popularity and success internationally we felt it only right to take this approach to a wider community.”

“The Premier League is becoming increasingly popular in Botswana and it is important we use our profile and reach to encourage and engage communities – the rollout of Premier Skills projects will do just that. Our partnership with the British Council, using top coaches like Warren Barton and Robbie Earle, will help develop the skills of local youth leaders for the long term benefit of their local communities.”

British Council Chair, Lord Kinnock, said:

“This is a truly exciting, creative initiative. Football transcends race and language among people everywhere. By putting the British Council’s experience and global network together with the Premier League’s great know-how, we can reach countless young people and help to enhance their skills on the pitch, their self-development, and their understanding of other cultures.”