KARACHI: Reigning La Liga champions Real Madrid are set to open football academies in Pakistan after a collaboration between Foundation Realmadrid (FRM) and Aman Sports, a subsidiary of the non-governmental organization, Aman Foundation.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two parties at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday which will initially lead to the establishment of two schools in Karachi, targeting boys and girls aged between 6 -17 years of age. The academies will have coaching facilities as well as state-of-the-art equipment.

Aman Sports, which aims to promote education through sports, will be setting up the academies in two of the biggest schools run by The Citizens Foundation (TCF).

“The FRM has a number of academies globally as well. We thought it (Real Madrid) would be suitable being one of the biggest club names in the world and it provides that magnetic pull,” Director of Aman Sports Faisal Mirza said while speaking to Dawn.com.

The main idea is to get underprivileged children, especially those who do not have access to sports facilities, to go to school with the promise of a better sports environment – including professional coaching.

“There is absolutely no skill requirement, the kids will not be charged anything. Our basic requirement is that if you want access to these sports facilities, you need to be in school, “ Mirza added.

Aman Sports will be sending its coaches to Real Madrid to get further training and will be working on getting some of their coaches to come to Pakistan to provide training and workshops.

“We are excited to collaborate with Aman Foundation to implement our FRM model in Pakistan for the betterment of children through the power of sport,” said Real Madrid’s Sporting Director Miguel Pardeza after finalising the deal.