City Football Academy (CFA) isn’t just home to the stars of our men and women’s First Teams and to celebrate the Climate Coalition’s #ShowTheLove campaign, we’re taking a look at some of its lesser known occupants.

That’s right, there’s a secret life to the CFA, with some unexpected inhabitants living onsite.

In addition to housing Pep Guardiola’s men, the double winning Academy stars of the future, CFA is also alive with wildlife, which we’re celebrating today.

The #ShowTheLove campaign aims to demonstrate progress towards tackling climate change and Manchester City strives to play its part in that.

With low carbon, low water and low waste measures employed to minimise our impact on the local environment and encourage bio diversity, CFA has reached the highest possible environmental standards.

This has been recognised by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), who have awarded us with the gold standard.

Furthermore, the development of our 80-acre site also had a positive ecological impact, as we turned a vast area of land polluted by heavy industrial use into clean terrain.

With the creation of wild flower meadows, grasses and wetland, the Etihad Campus is now hosting various types of moths, butterflies, bats; and the 2,000 trees are providing cover and nesting places for various birds, with sightings of robins, woodpecker and kestrels.

Did you know:

  • Each hectare of turfgrass at CFA absorbs an estimated 6.5-8.5 tonnes of CO2, which helps offset carbon emissions on site.
  • Manchester City has a comprehensive recycling and reuse programme. Between Jan – July 16, 720 tonnes of waste was collected on site for recycling and re-use.

For more information on how you can show your support for the campaign, visit fortheloveof.org.uk.