Daily Times

Karachi: The Karachi United will become the first club from Pakistan to tour the world renowned FC Barcelona.

Karachi United was established in 1996 with twin mandates of achieving football excellence and community development. As part of its objectives to provide the best football development opportunities, Karachi United has secured an opportunity for a football tour to one of the biggest football clubs in the world, FC Barcelona in Spain.

Director Imran Ali said: “We are delighted to have been accepted by FC Barcelona for such a tour, with our work as a community centered football club and our focus on youth development being significant factors.”

The tour dates are February 13th to 20th, 2017, and will see 4 of Karachi United youth teams ie Boys Under 12s, Under 14s and Under 16s also featuring a Girls contingent receiving exclusive training sessions from Barcelona coaches and being involved in various friendlies against local club youth teams. The tour will also give the youngsters a chance to visit the FC Barcelona museum, the famed FC Barcelona Youth Academy, La Masia and will be capped off with the youngsters getting to see a live match featuring FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou Stadium on 19th February.

Imran Ali further stated that ” As with Karachi United’s previous tours to Manchester United in 2004, to Qatar (2008 and 2010) and visits to Charlton Athletic in London (2005 & 2006), we expect this to be a great experience for the players and coaching staff especially to learn and bring back better methods for development of football in Pakistan.”

Director Development, Ali Ata, further stated that “Karachi United ‘s focus is use the power of football as a social tool (as exemplified by our 10 Centers of Excellence providing free football coaching and educational assistance to inner city children across Karachi) but to firmly place Pakistan on the global football map by continuing to groom our teams (Pro, ‘A’, Ladies and Academy) as well as hosting myriad football events (including the Karachi Football League and the ongoing Karachi United Schools Championship)”.

The tour will be another historic achievement for Karachi United, having earlier visited Manchester United in 2004 while on ground, the crow ning glory was holding a strong Aspire team to a draw on the 2010 Qatar tour.