Following a successful evening last Friday at the Cledara Abbey Stadium where a crowd of nearly 2000 saw Cambridge University win both the men and women’s Varsity matches against their Oxford counterparts, Cambridge United and Cambridge University Association Football Club have today a new formal partnership between the two Clubs...
Prof David Cardwell, President Elect of CUAFC said, “Cambridge can rightly lay claim to being the global birthplace of football, and CUAFC is proud to be unofficially ‘the oldest football club in the world’. The DNA of the game was ‘discovered’ here in the City in 1848 when the first game took place on Parker’s Piece under what are now the modern rules.
“Over the last two years, Cambridge United and the University have developed a strong partnership in a number different areas. We were very grateful that the Varsity Matches were once hosted so well at the Cledara Abbey Stadium.
"We agree that now is the right time to build on this and seek to deepen the relationship between our two football clubs. There is much we can potentially do together to help each other as clubs, and we share a desire to do more to help the city of Cambridge celebrate its status as the birthplace of the global game."
Godric Smith CBE, Chair of the Cambridge United Foundation and Director at the Club, added “Cambridge United is proud to be the professional football club from the university city that gave football to the world, so it is logical and long overdue to have a formal partnership between our two football Clubs on both the men’s and women’s side.
“We are at the beginning and will work out the detail of the first stepsover the coming months, but there is a united desire to explore how we can best help each other and, most importantly, the city of Cambridge.
"Areas of collaboration could include merchandising, facilities, sports science and coaching, data, community work andmentoring. We have a lot of resources and expertise between us and it will be exciting to see how we can potentially make best use of them together over the months and years ahead."