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Ex-City star pays for dream trip to Brazil for youth football team
The 10-day trip to Cruzeiro’s training ground and hotel was organised for the youngsters who play for church-based team Hope FC in Hulme
It’s the trip of a lifetime and every football fan’s dream – an all expenses paid trip to Brazil to train with the country’s top team.
And it has just become a reality for 16 young players from Manchester, thanks to the generosity of a former City star.
The 10-day trip to Cruzeiro’s training ground and hotel was organised for the youngsters who play for church-based team Hope FC in Hulme .
The team was started five years ago by Brazilian national and then City midfielder Dieberson Geovanni.
Aimed at steering disadvantaged youngsters away from crime, he would regularly run training sessions there during his time at City and then Hull FC, keeping his links with the team when he returned to Brazil.
Now playing for Bragantino, Geovanni and fellow Brazilian stars Claudio Cacapa and Kleber picked up the £60,000 tab for the trip, which even included a trip to Geovanni’s house, for a match on his own football pitch.
The Hope FC players, all aged 16 to 18, were accompanied on the trip by their coach, Jimmy Nelson, and four staff members from New Hope Fellowship Church in Hulme where the team is based.
Alongside daily training sessions with Geovanni and Cruzeiro coaches in Belo Horizonte, they also visited a shanty town and a youth prison for a game of football with inmates.
The church’s Pastor Ezequias Santos, who has kept in touch with Geovanni since his move, said: “I could see in the boys’ faces as we arrived the surprise to be around some of the world’s most famous players and coaches. To see boys from Hulme among these prestigious people was amazing.
“It was all provided by a footballer who started this club and we didn’t spend a coin while we were out there.
“Geovanni has done his bit now and it’s time for people in Manchester to do a bit more for lads from this area – we need a sponsor to come forward for the team.
“It’s my dream for three or four of these boys to go on to do a coaching programme so they can become leaders to the younger ones.”
Errol Dias, 18, one of the players on the trip, said: “Going to the prison in Brazil was a really good experience that opened my eyes. It taught me not to judge people. I expected them not to be very good at football but they showed us a few things.”
Fellow Hope FC player Thomas Hughes, 16, said: “The trip was amazing – especially when we went to Geovanni’s house and had a game of football on his own pitch.”
Ex-City star pays for dream trip to Brazil for youth football team
The 10-day trip to Cruzeiro’s training ground and hotel was organised for the youngsters who play for church-based team Hope FC in Hulme
It’s the trip of a lifetime and every football fan’s dream – an all expenses paid trip to Brazil to train with the country’s top team.
And it has just become a reality for 16 young players from Manchester, thanks to the generosity of a former City star.
The 10-day trip to Cruzeiro’s training ground and hotel was organised for the youngsters who play for church-based team Hope FC in Hulme .
The team was started five years ago by Brazilian national and then City midfielder Dieberson Geovanni.
Aimed at steering disadvantaged youngsters away from crime, he would regularly run training sessions there during his time at City and then Hull FC, keeping his links with the team when he returned to Brazil.
Now playing for Bragantino, Geovanni and fellow Brazilian stars Claudio Cacapa and Kleber picked up the £60,000 tab for the trip, which even included a trip to Geovanni’s house, for a match on his own football pitch.
The Hope FC players, all aged 16 to 18, were accompanied on the trip by their coach, Jimmy Nelson, and four staff members from New Hope Fellowship Church in Hulme where the team is based.
Alongside daily training sessions with Geovanni and Cruzeiro coaches in Belo Horizonte, they also visited a shanty town and a youth prison for a game of football with inmates.
The church’s Pastor Ezequias Santos, who has kept in touch with Geovanni since his move, said: “I could see in the boys’ faces as we arrived the surprise to be around some of the world’s most famous players and coaches. To see boys from Hulme among these prestigious people was amazing.
“It was all provided by a footballer who started this club and we didn’t spend a coin while we were out there.
“Geovanni has done his bit now and it’s time for people in Manchester to do a bit more for lads from this area – we need a sponsor to come forward for the team.
“It’s my dream for three or four of these boys to go on to do a coaching programme so they can become leaders to the younger ones.”
Errol Dias, 18, one of the players on the trip, said: “Going to the prison in Brazil was a really good experience that opened my eyes. It taught me not to judge people. I expected them not to be very good at football but they showed us a few things.”
Fellow Hope FC player Thomas Hughes, 16, said: “The trip was amazing – especially when we went to Geovanni’s house and had a game of football on his own pitch.”