Barwick Reappears At Kickworldwide
Brian Barwick, the former chief executive of The Football Association, has re-emerged in the industry after being named as the new chairman of Kickworldwide – an organisation which creates football opportunities for youngsters in emerging nations.
Barwick, who was also formerly Head of Sport at BBC and ITV, became CEO of The FA in 2005 and during his term of office oversaw the opening of the new Wembley Stadium and led on the appointment of Fabio Capello as coach of the England team in December 2007, before leaving office at the end of 2008.
Amongst a number of initiatives, the Cheshire-based Kickworldwide created the reality TV format, Soccer Prince, which has been successfully launched in China to 130m viewers.
The series is now set to be rolled out across other Asian countries as a co-production with Freemantle Media.
Each territory will offer the prize of a year’s training at a top English Premier League club for the winning youngsters.
Kickworldwide is also creating Football Development Centres in countries such as China and India, where young people who want to work across all the functions of the sport can gain the important educational skills to forge a career in football.
Partnering with established academic institutions, English Premier League clubs, education delivery partners and national football authorities, the FDC curriculum will provide courses in-country as well as the opportunity to study in the UK.
