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Nestle partners with Barcelona, launches MILO Cup for young S'porean footballers

SINGAPORE – Talented young Singaporean footballers could stand a chance to train with FC Barcelona, thanks to a new partnership between the Spanish football giants and Nestle MILO.

(From left to right): Patrice Bula, Executive Vice President, Nestle S.A, former Barcelona and France star defender Eric Abidal, and Xavier Asensi, Managing Director Asia Pacific, FC Barcelona, at the event to announce the global partnership between Nestle and Barcelona.  PHOTO: WEE TECK HIAN

(From left to right): Patrice Bula, Executive Vice President, Nestle S.A, former Barcelona and France star defender Eric Abidal, and Xavier Asensi, Managing Director Asia Pacific, FC Barcelona, at the event to announce the global partnership between Nestle and Barcelona. PHOTO: WEE TECK HIAN

SINGAPORE – Talented young Singaporean footballers could stand a chance to train with FC Barcelona, thanks to a new partnership between the Spanish football giants and Nestle MILO.

Both parties announced on Thursday evening (Jan 19) a four-year global partnership to promote healthier lifestyles and the importance of physical activity among children in Asia, Oceania, Africa and Latin America.

MILO, which currently reaches 22 million children each year through its on-going grassroots sports programmes, will launch a series of initiatives together with Barcelona to help millions more. It is Nestle’s first global sports partnership.

One of these will be the MILO Cup in Singapore, a local football tournament for those between 6 to 14 years of age. Participation will be complimentary and the target is to reach out to 400 kids, according to Mr Chow Phee Chat, director of marketing communications and corporate affairs at Nestle Singapore.

“If they are good and show potential, we have plans to actually bring them to be trained overseas with FC Barcelona,” he said on the sidelines of the event at the National Stadium.

“The MILO Cup has been in development only recently, so a lot of the programmes and details are still being worked on, but we believe that through this partnership with Barcelona, we will be able to bring it to the next level and impact more children in Singapore.”

“We believe that through this partnership, we can actually reach out to more children and inculcate the values of sport like courage, perseverance and teamwork… we believe these are the fundamental building blocks of child development.”

Chow added that the Cup is due to be launched in the second quarter of this year, with Singapore legend Fandi Ahmad roped in as tournament ambassador. Fandi will be part of the panel of judges selecting the “best and brightest” for a training stint at Camp Nou.

He was non-committal when asked about the possibility of resurrecting the MILO Soccer School, a now-defunct youth football programme that produced the likes of Fandi, David Lee and Malek Awab.

“I can’t really commit for now… what we have done is that we have gone beyond just sports; we have taken to educating children in schools on the importance of active lifestyles and also eating right,”  Chow said.

“We have also reached out to support more national athletes. In that sense, resources are quite committed but that doesn’t stop us from pursuing the possibility of (reviving the) MILO Soccer School; it’s just that details are not firmed up and I can’t commit for now.”

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