Manchester City players will wear a new name on the front of their shirts for their first Premier League game back on Wednesday night to promote the launch of a charity initiative.
The Blues have taken a number of measures to help the local community in light of the pandemic, including striking up a long-term partnership with the NHS and donating to local foodbanks. City Football Group (CFG), the parent company that is responsible for a further eight clubs around the world, has contributed almost £1,000,000 of donations, in-kind support and loaning of facilities.
In time for the restart of the Premier League, CFG is aiming to raise at least another million through Cityzens Giving for Recovery, which will aim to support communities globally.
Every employee will be allowed to spend a day volunteering as part of the scheme, while CFG will also be matching donations for the funding of nine recovery-linked projects near to each of its clubs; an extension of the traditional annual Cityzens Giving campaign.
And Etihad Airways, a group partner, has allowed their name on the front of City's shirt to be replaced with the campaign logo for the Arsenal game.
“We are hugely grateful to our partners at Etihad for enabling us to use our most visible and significant asset to promote Cityzens Giving For Recovery. As ever, it demonstrates the enduring depth and value of our partnership," said club COO Omar Berrada.
“At a time when so many around the world have suffered enormous loss, we are proud to be introducing our new campaign to help our communities around the world get back on their feet.”
“Front line workers around the world have heroically responded to the immediate threat of COVID-19. At CFG, we have been privileged to play our own small part in helping to address that immediate threat," club CEO Ferran Soriano said.
“Now is the time for us to look forward, committing to meeting our responsibility to help our communities recover.
“For the first time, we are harnessing the global resources of our nine clubs, our entire network of offices, staff, players and coaches to focus our efforts on recovery.
“This multi-faceted campaign is going to use our expertise, our facilities, our platform and our voice to help people and our communities to heal and recover. And we will do it together. We are calling on our global community of Cityzens to help us to give and to help as many people as we can to recover.”
