Our Partnerships: Manchester City Football Club
Manchester City Football Club partnership
A Manchester-made ten-year collaboration that matches academic expertise with elite sporting prowess to make a lasting impact
The City Football Group is one of the leading names in sport – a collection of elite-level clubs, from Belgium and Spain, to India and China, and including one of English football’s biggest clubs: Manchester City Football Club.
In 2014, Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester City FC signed a ten-year partnership to share expertise in education, infrastructure development, commercial knowledge and community relations. It’s an agreement that has given our undergraduate courses in community coaching a real-world setting and impact through programmes delivered jointly via Manchester City FC’s City in the Community Foundation, and that has provided students with vital placement and internship opportunities. The partnership has also broadened beyond education, opening the doors to a range of other activities, from researching a variety of areas within health and sport, including research into children’s physical activity levels, to running regular nutrition programmes with Manchester City FC’s Academy players.
Learning with The Best
Combine Manchester Met’s expertise and understanding with Manchester City FC’s profile and facilities, and the possibilities are almost limitless. We are two organisations built to shape people’s lives – whether training young people to reach their fullest potential or supporting members of our local community.
Our community coaching degree courses are the prime example of that impact. Whether on the BSc (Hons) or FdSc programme, students have the chance to develop professional skills in Premier League surroundings, with the support of both our academic team and coaching experts from City in the Community. It’s work-based learning rooted in the real world – which means working with the community as they train, using the power of football to help people from across Manchester.
For students on our sports nutrition courses – both at undergraduate and postgraduate level – our partnership with the football club offers the chance to apply theory learnt in the classroom to the real world of elite sports. Through placement opportunities, our students can work with the club’s staff and players to develop nutrition plans, support players and enhance the communication and interpersonal skills that are vital to become a leading nutritionist.
An Elite Opportunity for Community Impact
Our Manchester City Community Football Coaching degrees match our academic expertise with Manchester City Football Club’s Premier League surroundings and the incredible community networks of the club’s City in the Community Foundation.Fashioning hospital gowns for kids from performance wear for players
A trip into hospital can be an intimidating experience for any child. Our collaboration aims to change that. By bringing together the resources of Manchester City F.C., the design expertise of Manchester Fashion Institute and the capabilities of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), we’re helping patients at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital feel like their footballing heroes – with gowns created from football shirts.
Students and staff from Manchester Fashion Institute took part in a series of co-design workshops with hospital staff and the young patients’ parents – a research process to identify the patients’ needs, discover the way sportswear is used in healthcare settings and understand the exacting standards that gowns need to meet. This then allowed the students to work with the textile teams at HMPPS to produce a prototype and develop a technical pack for bulk manufacture.
For the students involved, it has been an opportunity not only to gain experience of real-world collaboration across sportswear design and clinical standards – with one student securing full-time employment with a well-known sportswear brand as a direct result of the project – but also to make a tangible impact for young people in a time of real need. For the University and Manchester City F.C., the pilot project has offered the chance to channel their shared focus on sustainability into an initiative that supports the local community – something that will be built upon by researchers at Manchester Fashion Institute as they look into recommendations for wider use.
Giving Academy Players a Healthy Foundation
For the young players at Manchester City Academy, it’s not just their footballing skills and athletic ability that they need to develop. A vital part of their future success – both in football and beyond – is living a healthy lifestyle. So, just as they need coaching on the pitch, they also need guidance in the kitchen.
Our partnership with Manchester City FC offers the chance to share our expertise in nutrition, with a programme of sessions to develop Academy players’ skills and understanding to prepare healthy, balanced meals. Working together with the club’s nutritionist, our nutrition team welcomes players from the under-16, under-18, under-21 and under-23 age groups for a series of sessions at our development kitchen. After a quick assessment, the team develops a programme to teach the players skills for food prep and cooking, as well as the principles of healthy nutrition – like achieving the right balance of carbs and protein.
For those players who stay with the academy through the age groups, the sessions adapt over four years – building on their skills so they continue to develop their cooking skills. The team even runs sessions for parents and ‘house parents’ (families who host younger players locally), to ensure that home-cooked meals provide the energy and nutrition the players need to train and grow.
It’s not only a fun experience for the players, with the novelty of working in a kitchen as opposed to the usual training facilities, but it’s also a vital element of their personal and professional development. For young men living away from home – particularly if they go out on loan with another club, perhaps in another country – it can be all too easy to order takeaways and fall into bad habits. Instead, the skills they learn with the Manchester Met nutrition team gives them a healthy foundation for their career in elite sport and their life beyond.
Contact the Institute of Sport
Contact us
If you have an enquiry related to the work we do or how you can get involved, get in touch.