Club coaches carried out a selection process at the city's Bayil Arena Stadium, with 16 children being chosen from the under eight and nine and under 10/11's categories.

Training sessions will be conducted by club coaches and two local assistants with the young hopefuls being taught English beforehand at least twice a week.

The Soccer School was launched in an initiative supported by both the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA), United's only official football federation and football development partner, and official club sponsor Bakcell, the Azerbaijani mobile operator.

Working in collaboration, the three parties aim to promote and develop youth football in Azerbaijan.

The children will be trained by club coaches and two local assistants ©AFFA



"Bakcell, the AFFA and Manchester United have successfully implemented a summer Manchester United Soccer School during the last two years," said Richard Shearer, Bakcell chief executive.

"The participation of children in this unique project has stimulated the opening of a permanent Manchester United Soccer School in Azerbaijan.

"We were able to discover the great potential of Azerbaijani football thanks to those children and decided to bring even bigger opportunities closer to Azerbaijani football.

"I believe that the Manchester United Soccer School will be as successful as the summer school and I'm confident that we will share some even better results in the near future."

Baku is set to host next year's inaugural European Games from June 12 to 28, with beach soccer among the sports included.