Global sports company PUMA and Manchester City have announced the launch of a pre-match kit range to celebrate girls and women football players in Manchester.
The striking new design is inspired by Mancunian Emmeline Pankhurst and sees PUMA join forces with the club’s charity, ‘City in the Community’, to accelerate access to football for girls across Greater Manchester.
City’s men’s team will wear the kit during their warmup and walkout at this weekend’s Premier League match against Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 4th March and Manchester City women will play in the kit for the FA Women’s Super League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday 5th March at the Academy Stadium.
A recent study revealed 80% of girls feel they do not belong in sport and only 14% of girls aged 5-16 achieve recommended levels of physical activity.
To help address these issues, PUMA will sponsor City in the Community’s City Girls project and help enable the charity to provide free weekly football sessions for 250 girls across Manchester for the next 12 months.
To further support the project, the City Girls program will also expand for the first time to Moss Side, the birthplace of Emmeline Pankhurst, and include a special week of education on the Suffragette movement.
For the sixth consecutive year, Manchester City will be running the ‘Same City Same Passion’ campaign that will inspire young girls across the world to play football.
PUMA will provide the girls with footballs and since 2018, PUMA and Manchester City have provided over 6000 footballs worldwide for girls. This year the PUMA footballs will feature a limited-edition Pankhurst-inspired design of the pre-match range.
“The new Manchester City pre-match collection is a great opportunity for PUMA to continue our support for women’s football and to celebrate inspirational women, past and present,” said Marco Mueller, PUMA Senior Head of Product Line Management Apparel Licensed.
“The collection is inspired by Manchester’s own Emmeline Pankhurst and is the perfect project for PUMA to partner with the charity ‘City in the Community’ to provide equipment and free football sessions for girls in the community.”
The Manchester City pre-match collection is available from PUMA stores, PUMA.com, the City store at the Etihad Stadium Store, mancity.com/shop and at select retailers worldwide.