Former FC Bayern striker and Allianz Junior Football Camp (AJFC) Ambassador, Giovane Elber led a football training session for 28 teenagers from the United Learning Centre (ULC) recently.

Elber put the 13 boys from ULC’s under-12 team and 17 boys from the under-17 team through their paces with a 45-minute training session at Victoria Institution (V.I.). ULC is a volunteer driven centre that provides education to Burmese refugee children.

“Football connects us all and being an ambassador for AJFC allows me to travel to countries like Malaysia and share my love for the game. Today was a very special opportunity to train the children at ULC and I hope they had as much as I did,” said Elber.

Elber is in town for the Allianz Junior Football Camp (AJFC) 2017 Grand Finals on 15 July 2017. Elber will evaluate the players where the best 13 will be selected for AJFC Asia in Bali, Indonesia from 1-4 August 2017. At Bali, the best three Malaysian players will be selected to attend AJFC in Munich, Germany and train under record 27-time German Champions FC Bayern Munich in Munich, Germany from 17-22 August 2017.

“It’s great to have Giovane Elber here again in Malaysia to assist with the selection of the 13 players that will attend AJFC Asia next month. Besides that, he was also game to join some fun activities that allowed him to get a better feel of the country. Because football knows no boundaries, it brings everyone together and today was the perfect example of that,” said Zakri Khir, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Malaysia Berhad.

Earlier in the day, Elber had a taste of Malaysia where he swapped his football boots for an apron and tried his hand in making teh tarik and roti canai at Hilton Kuala Lumpur before attending a meet and greet session with the members of the MY-FCBayern (FC Bayern Munchen Fan Club Malaysia). Later, Elber donned his football kit to play in a friendly match between Allianz Malaysia FC and My-FCBayern at V.I., playing each 20 minutes for each side.  

AJFC Malaysia League 2017 was held between 18 March and 20 May 2017 where following the six-week long season, Akademi Bolasepak FELDA (Central), JBFA (South), Anak Singa Utara KSMR (North), Kuantan Soccerkids A (East Coast) and SAFA Kota Belud (Sabah) were crowned champions of their respective regions.  The top-18 players from each region then formed a regional team that competed for bragging rights at the Grand Finals.

The AJFC Malaysia League officially launched in Kuala Lumpur on 8 February 2017 and was open to teams of 18 players aged between 14 to 16 years old. This is the ninth year that the Allianz Junior Football Camp is being held globally. This year, Malaysia was part of the event for the sixth consecutive year and has thus far witnessed the talents of 5,769 young aspiring footballers.

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