Gunners For Change

Gunners For Change is an Arsenal in the Community initiative launched in 2023 that will help and inspire Arsenal Academy players to become more involved in the club’s community projects.

The initiative will be overseen by the department’s Club Link Officer, whose role is to coordinate the Academy players’ engagement with Arsenal in the Community programmes. This newly created post has been funded by the Premier League and the Professional Footballers’ Association as part of their drive to encourage young footballers to get involved in their club’s local communities.

The projects and target areas that our Academy players will be involved with include:

•Positive Futures

•Safe Spaces For Young People

•Literacy, Learning & Education

•Tackling Poverty

•Arsenal for Everyone

•Health

•Environmental Sustainability

•Supporting Older People

As Academy Manager, Per Mertesacker will also act as a Gunners For Change ambassador, and he will take a personal interest in the development of his players off the pitch.

In a joint mission statement, Per Mertesacker and Head of Education Matt Henly said: “Working within our community reflects the values of the Strong Young Gunners we aim to produce within the Academy, as well as being an important component of the apprenticeship programme all our Under-18 players have to complete. The Gunners for Change project formalises the long-standing relationship between our Academy and Community department and we’re looking forward to working even more closely together on future projects.”

Beyond this, Gunners For Change will also shine a light on the social action by our own workforce – including the senior men’s and women’s players – and supporters, as well as the participants in our Arsenal in the Community projects.

Keep an eye out here for a new Gunners For Change home page in the near future, or in the meantime email Brian Matovu at bmatovu@arsenal.co.uk for more information.

Gunners For Change holding page