The future football stars of Swindon Town could come from Pakistan, thanks to a special relationship between the club and the country.

Staff from the football club are flying out to Karachi at the end of the month where they will offer training.

Organisers said two Karachi coaches will also come to England to join the Swindon team for 12 days.

Swindon Town FC Vice-chairman, Zavier Austin, said: "It would be a magical story if we found a hidden gem."

He added: "We could change his life, change his family's life."

The football club set up the academy in Pakistan last year and are working with the Pakistan Football Federation.

It said hundreds of boys applied to be part of the Karachi academy but they could only take on 18 of them.

During their training, the teenagers get paid a small amount each month and get lessons in football and English.

Academy director Jamie Russell said: "Hopefully it would be brilliant if we could get a boy from Karachi to come across and fit into the group and work over here.

"It would be fantastic for us to be a step in their journey."

The Karachi Commissioner Muhammad Iqbal Memon said: "Swindon Town Academy has given them the opportunity to have the best training available.

"It is a fantastic opportunity not only for these kids, but the overall community of Karachi."

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

• ·'The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying': Mark Zuckerberg's Meta allows Trump BACK on Facebook and Instagram in the 'coming weeks' 
• ·King to retrace mother's state visit to Scotland
• ·Monarchy debate: Valuable tradition or unfair wealth?
• ·Boat mooring price hike gets rocky reception
• ·Pence aides didn't started packing up files until after January 6 beca utilize Trump wanted White Ho utilize to act like they were staying for second term, new report claims after classified documents were found in his home 
• ·Progress from domestic abuse law too slow - report
• ·Exams system needs 'radical' overhaul - Gilruth
• ·Why Ireland is so important to Joe Biden
• ·'A time of unprecedented danger': Doomsday Clock sits just 90 seconds before midnight due to the war in Ukraine - the closest humankind has been to annihilation in 76 years
• ·'People think my drawings are photographs at first'
• ·Military on parade in midnight coronation rehearsal
• ·Military flypast rehearsal ahead of coronation
• ·Man assaulted by 'NINJA' with sheath of samurai sword is panhandler who triggered a bomb scare in New York City by planting two rice cookers in subway station three years ago: Attacker is still on the run
• ·'I know someone who was shot dead in a Sudan hospital'
• ·Meeting the doctor who saved my life
• ·Man charged with rape outside city pub