One lucky Los Angeles youngster will be the official mascot of the 2011 English FA Cup winners when Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) plays Major League Soccer rivals, LA Galaxy, in a showpiece friendly at the Home Depot Center on Sunday 24 July.

Claiming the once-in-a-lifetime mascot prize, however, will be no walk in a ‘City of Angels’ park. The winning youngster will have to fend off 300 Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club colleagues in a special competition at Long Beach on Friday 22 July.

The competition, organised by MCFC’s ‘Official Destination Partner’, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), starts at around 11am and is divided into carefully-designed segments.

In the first test, youngsters will have to place a penalty kick in one of three holes built in to a special, Abu Dhabi-inspired backdrop. With all 300 youngsters given a chance, those who score will become ‘Finalists’ and progress to an elimination round.

In the final, which is scheduled to begin at 3:45pm, the backdrop will be replaced by a real life challenge - the commanding figure of a Manchester City goalkeeper. The final will run until the field is whittled down to the last three; it will end when a single winner is crowned.

“A big prize deserves a big challenge and we cannot wait to see how this once-in-a-lifetime chance pans out,” said Dayne Lim, Product Development Director, ADTA. “With the huge strides the club has made in recent seasons, these are exciting times for Manchester City – as they are for Abu Dhabi. As part of our strategy to increase inbound custom from North America, we have just appointed our first, on-the-ground personnel in the States, while details of our American office will be released in coming months.”

As well as securing the coveted mascot role, the winning youngster will also receive four VIP hospitality passes for the friendly match and a complimentary full club kit.

So far in Manchester City’s ‘Summer Tour 2011’, the freshly-qualified UEFA Champions League contenders have faced Club America in San Francisco (last Saturday) and the Vancouver Whitecaps (last night). The English club’s encounter with LA Galaxy is the final competitive outing in a fitness-boosting, pre-season programme.

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