Press Release 21 June 2012

The UK Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has announced an expansion ‘Premier Skills - Esporte Seguro (Safe Sport)’ at the famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The programme is a partnership intiative between the Premier League, the British Council and the Rio de Janeiro State Government aimed at engaging Rio's disaffected youth through sport. Thirty young people from the programme celebrated the announcement of the expansion of Premier Skills Esporte Seguro to the Fallet Fogueteiro and São Carlos communities in Rio.

The decision to expand the programme in Rio comes after the successful pilot of Premier Skills Esporte Seguro in the Morro dos Prazeres favella. More than 300 youngsters applied to participate in the pilot initiative, which started in December 2011. With the expansion, which is planned for later this year, the aim is to reach a total of 1,000 young people in Rio.

Premier Skills combines the Premier League's experience in developing high-quality community programmes with the global presence and experience of the British Council in implementing cultural projects. Premier Skills has already achieved huge impact, running centres across 20 countries around the world. It has trained over 1,000 coaches, reached nearly 300,000 young people, and distributed over  one million football-focused English language materials globally.

Partners in each country have a crucial role within Premier Skills. In Brazil, the programme is working with local partners, the Rio de Janeiro State Government to spread the concept of ‘football for good’, through its Secretariats for Security, Leisure and Sports and Social Assistance and Human Rights.

“The format of the programme in Rio differs from its format in other countries. Instead of working with clubs, our partner is the Rio State Government and the coaches are policemen with a Physical Education background”, says Ana Paula Bessa, Projects Manager for Premier Skills Esporte Seguro at the British Council.

Earlier this year, in March, 10 young participants of the programme who live in Morro dos Prazeres were selected to go to London, where they witnessed how Premier League clubs like Tottenham Hotspur F.C. implement their community projects. According to Orlando Dato, Community Coach for Premier Skills Esporte Seguro, “the kids have learnt that it is worth dreaming. They dreamt about this trip and they got it. The important thing is that I can make the argument for them, that they can fulfil their dreams. They can be whatever they want."

For further information on Premier Skills Esporte Seguro contact Ana Signorini.