On Sunday 4 August, the Club hosted a South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) Football Festival which saw hundreds of children and parents come to the City Football Academy to take part in fun and competitive football to help inspire more South Asian children to pursue their passion of playing football.
Since joining City around two years ago, Sevvy and the Academy have been working hard to provide a clear pathway for both the South Asian community and other communities to step up the Club’s diversity to new heights.
In June 2023, research from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) stated that less than 0.5% of professional footballers in the United Kingdom are of South Asian heritage.
But Sevvy is confident that in the not-to-distant future, that number will change and City could be one of the many clubs across the country that could see South Asian players around the first team.
“I’m blown away in the respect that – I’m definitely not going to claim the fame to this because it’s a team effort here at City – but the players we’ve got in the Academy from the South Asian community now is phenomenal,” said Sevvy.
“My role, first and foremost when I joined City was to enlighten the community with potential challenges that they face but then also reassure them that they will be looked after at City.
“And so for me to see the numbers rise as they have done is great. There was only three or four South Asian players involved at City and now we’re up to 18/19.
“The number might not sound like a lot in comparison to the size of the Boys Academy but when we put it into the context of South Asians playing football, I think it’s a huge achievement.
“We still have headway to make, like a lot of clubs,” Sevvy admitted.
“But City are working hard and I’m confident in saying that we will see a South Asian player sign an Academy contract in the near future and that shows the progress we’ve made.”
Trevor Todd, City’s Head of Junior Academy and Local Recruitment was also at our SAHM Football Festival and he was thrilled to see so many in attendance thanks to the hard work of Sevvy and the pathway he has provided to the South Asian community around Manchester.
“Adding Sevvy to our team has been great because now we can really have a go at finding the South Asian players that are out there that don’t really know the pathway into football,” said Todd.
“Thanks to Sevvy’s experience, background and links to the community, we’ve ran around 20 of these events and they’ve just got better and better.”
And City are hopeful to see numbers continue to grow with the Club always open to more players getting involved.
“Feel free to reach out to the Club for guidance on how to get your child into a local team,” said Sevvy.
“The kids need to be playing competitive football if they want to work towards joining City’s Academy and we’re happy to help them on that journey.
“So get out there, get playing and get yourself seen. And hopefully we’ll see more South Asian children joining City!”
