Swindon Town Vice Chairman Zavier Austin enjoyed a successful and productive trip to Pakistan at the weekend to formally cement a historic link-up with Karachi Football Club.
Zav was the guest of honour at a game hosted by Karachi Football Club on Saturday, with the people of Karachi showing their support and excitement for the link-up between the two Clubs.
Speaking after his visit, Zav said: “I am really pleased that Swindon Town Football Club were the first English Club to make the trip to Karachi, a city that boasts a population of over 27 million people.
“I would like to place on record my immense thanks to Muhammad Iqbal Memon, the Commissioner of Karachi, for organising and putting on a phenomenal three-day visit. I was made to feel incredibly welcome throughout my stay, and the hospitality I received was out of this world.
“As I said in the original announcement, we are committed to finding the best young talent throughout Asia and around the globe, and I am now excited to announce the next steps in our partnership with Karachi Football Club.
“In the next six weeks, we will be sending a coach from our Academy out to Karachi to have a look at their set-up, assess it and change and tweak it as he sees fit.
“He will run a camp and a trial for not only players, but also coaches as we look to identify the best young talent and the most incredible football minds in Karachi.
“Then, we will be inviting two coaches from Karachi over to Swindon for a four-week period where they will study both our Academy and our first-team closely, watching how our guys work and prepare before taking those ideas back to Karachi where they can then help to nurture and develop the next generation of footballing talent.
“It became very obvious to me that there is a significant amount of footballing talent out in Karachi and in Pakistan, and we want to tap into that as well as help those who are unfortunately living in poverty.
“We as a Football Club want to do our bit.
“We are exceedingly keen to embark on this journey with Karachi Football Club, and we are very excited about the opportunities we’ve been given to help grow the game of football in Pakistan, hopefully make a difference and also engage with our large Pakistani community in Swindon and get them involved with their local club.
“These are exciting times for all concerned and this is just the beginning of our relationship with Karachi FC, and other clubs throughout Asia.”
