Carlos Tevez and Costel Pantilimon, Manchester City Stars Surprise Visit to Shelter Home for Children, Malaysian Orphanage

... the smiles, hope and inspirations that they gave to this children were priceless 

During the recent pre-season friendly visit to Malaysia, Manchester City stars Carlos Tevez and Costel Pantilimon paid a surprise and very personal visit to the Shelter Home for Children orphanage.

On the Sunday, the day before taking on the Malaysian national side in a friendly, both players took some time off to visit the children at their home in Petaling Jaya. Whilst at the orphanage, Tevez and Pantilimon delighted the children with a penalty shoot-out followed by a photograph and autograph session. 

Manchester City then invited all the children from the orphanage to attend the game between MCFC and the Malaysia XI at the Bukit Jalil stadium, and donated footballs from the match to the young people.

Carlos Tevez said: “I’m happy to be here and it gives me great satisfaction to bring a smile to their faces. I believe making children happy is something that everyone should do. As a footballer, we have the privilege to reach out to the public, especially the children”. 

Tevez entering the Shelter Home for Children, Malaysia

Pantilimon, City’s squad goalkeeper, said: “I see that the children are happy, and for this reason we are also happy for them. It was a pleasure for us to come here, to visit the children because they are great children; we’re glad we made this trip.”

Cheok Hoong Poh, Shelter Home for Children’s general manager, said “We are delighted that Carlos Tevez and Costel Pantilimon took time out of their busy training schedules to come and visit us. It showed great heart and I know the kids were overjoyed to meet them. We have a small cement pitch in our compound so you can tell football is one of the children’s favorite hobbies.”

“These children have had a rough time in life but moments like these are the ones that brighten their lives and they are moments they will carry with them forever. We would like to thank Manchester City for going one step further and donating tickets so that all of the children and the support staff got to watch their new heroes in action at the game.”

Carlos and Costel have since returned to Manchester together with the team as they gear up for the upcoming season which begins on 18 August. They will begin their defence of the EPL crown against newly promoted side, Southampton but before that, the children of Shelter Home will surely be cheering them on as their new friends face off against Chelsea in the Community Shield this weekend.