Samuel Taylor
Four male and four female coaches will face a public vote to determine who will train with Arsenal Football Development coaches in London
A panel of judges from Arsenal and its official online money transfer partner, WorldRemit, have selected eight coaches as finalists for their Future Stars coaching programme.
The eight finalists would now compete in a public vote on www.futurestars.worldremit.com for the chance to attend a personalised training programme with Arsenal Football Development coaches in London, sponsored by WorldRemit.
Samuel Taylor, a Ghanaian and one of the coaches, coaches U-13, U-15 and U-17 teams at Em Sporting Club, which is located in a rural area near Accra.
As a passionate football player himself, he decided to start coaching to bring together children and coaches from neighbouring villages to enjoy football together.
He would use the opportunity to train with Arsenal Football Development to share learnings with the local football community and enhance the standard of coaching.
The Future Stars programme was developed by WorldRemit and Arsenal to celebrate the positive impact that grassroots youth football coaches have on their communities, helping the children they train to develop life skills both on and off the pitch.
Now in its second edition, the Future Stars programme received over 1,400 online applications this year from across Africa and the Americas.
From these entries, a panel of judges selected 20 semi-finalists to receive Arsenal shirts for their youth team as recognition of their hard work within their communities.
The judging panel then narrowed these 20 semi-finalists down to eight finalists – four male and four female.
The head coach at Arsenal Football Development, Simon McManus, said, “Through our community initiatives in London and abroad, we work hard to promote greater diversity in football and positively impact the lives of young people through sport.”
The Managing Director Middle East & Africa at WorldRemit, Andrew Stewart,said,“Our business is all about making it easier for our customers to send money home to support their communities. Together with Arsenal, we set up the Future Stars programme to recognise football coaches within these communities who are dedicated to supporting and lifting up others.
The selected male coaches includeBakit Isaac Agogo from Gulu, Uganda; Feisal Abdi Hassan from Nairobi, Kenya; Luis Alejandro Castañeda Vargas from Bogotá, Colombia, and Samuel Taylor from Accra, Ghana.
From The Sports Desk