Festival In Great Kompany As Football Coach Kicks Off Celebration Of Languages

Futbol Lingo’s interactive workshops and webinars are part of Express Yourself — a free festival of languages and cultures reaching schools and community groups regionwide.

And as part of 2025’s packed festival programme, Futbol Lingo’s inspirational co-founder is heading to Newcastle in March to preach the power of language.

Multilingual Pierce Kiembi was born in Africa and raised in Germany and the UK before winning a football scholarship at the University Of Texas.

As a speaker of French, Lingala, German, Spanish and English, he established the Futbol Lingo app as a tool to help professional clubs embed international players before developing an education offer for schools.

“We want to inspire the next generation to embrace languages at school and beyond,” said the fully qualified football coach and former semi-professional player.

“And football is the perfect tool to achieve that goal. It’s not just the game but the industry as a whole. There are so many roles associated with football that require talented people who are able to speak more than one language.

“Everyone sees the players and the coaches but what about football journalists, interpreters, agents, medical and education staff and even referees? Pierluigi Collina is probably the most famous referee to officiate at the top level and he spoke four languages!”

Pierce fears that learning languages is becoming increasingly unpopular in British schools and believes that introducing football to the conversation can help buck that trend.

“By year nine, with boys in particular, you start to notice a significant drop off when it comes to learning languages,” he added.

“So we initially imagined the educational arm of Futbol Lingo being a vehicle for getting boys interested in football and back into studying French or Spanish, for example.

“They’ll ask me ‘who’s the most famous player you met?’. I explain I coached with Vincent Kompany, the former Manchester City defender and current manager of Bayern Munich.

“Once I’ve got their attention, I explain that Vincent speaks four languages. That makes them really think.

“But I quickly realised that there was just as much need to engage with girls. So I use Northumberland’s very own Lucy Bronze as a brilliant example.

“She was brought up speaking English and Portuguese and now she’s fluent in French and Spanish. That’s a skill that will benefit her long after she stops playing football.”

Declan Baharini, Coordinator of Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages, is delighted to see the Futbol Lingo team return to enhance this year’s programme.

As well as delivering two in-person Languages and Careers in Football workshops at Northumbria University’s Sport Central, on March 26 (both fully booked), Pierce is delivering a webinar for schools (Key Stage 3-5) on March 12 (unlimited places available).

Schools across the North East have already signed up more than 3,000 pupils for the online session and Declan said: “Futbol Lingo inspires young people to progress with languages and to open up a world of future career opportunities.

“We’re excited for their return to the Festival this year after Pierce and the team made a huge impression in 2024.

“These sessions are made possible due to the grant we receive from the North East Combined Authority (North East CA) and we’re very grateful to Mayor Kim McGuinness and her team for their ongoing support.

“It’s vitally important that we promote the value of languages when it comes to giving young people in our region the support they need to achieve their career goals.”

Steven Fawkes, membership officer and trustee at the Association for Language Learning (ALL), said: “Football is the magic word when it comes to the inspirational Futbol Lingo sessions — teachers and students are drawn to the link between languages and a game that everyone knows and loves.

“Futbol Lingo’s most compelling argument is that being able to speak multiple languages later in life is an advantage — whether that’s in football or in any career.

“But if you are keen on a future in sport, then languages can make you so much more employable.

“Not everyone will make it as a footballer but imagine if you’re a club physiotherapist and you can speak Spanish or French. What an asset you’d be to that club!”

Steven has been working with the Express Yourself team from day one and is also helping to develop a languages and careers toolkit with International Newcastle, Newcastle City Council and the North East CA.

He added: “Employers and those in higher education see language as a facilitator. If you can speak another language then it helps to build bridges. As a young person, being multilingual can be your trump card.”

For further information on the 2025 Express Yourself: North East Festival Of Languages and to register for activities visit expressyourselfne.com

Schools can book places on the Futbol Lingo webinar on 12th March, Languages and Careers in Football, by emailing their details to [email protected]