Today, New York City FC, Manchester City FC – and Tinder – the world’s most popular app for meeting new people – announce a new, multi-year partnership to bring Tinder users and passionate football fans from the touchlines to the goal line, worldwide.

With its first in-depth foray into the sports market, Tinder will work with New York City FC and sister Club Manchester City FC (men’s and women’s teams), to create exciting and unique experiences for Tinder users and football fans – from exclusive access to games, to once-in-a-lifetime experiences, events at the stadium and unique ways to engage with fans. With a strong millennial and digital focus, the partnership will engage football fans around the world.

Operating in nearly 200 countries, across more than 40 different languages and with millions of users using its app every single day, Tinder is turning to football, the world’s most loved, watched and played sport, and the Clubs’ hundreds of millions of followers, to help connect even more people with their passion.

Today, a giant Tinder and Manchester City-branded blimp flies over the city of Manchester to celebrate the partnership, leading up to the world-famous Manchester derby, which takes place at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, 12:30 p.m. EST.

“Tinder’s global presence and highly engaged user base gives us a unique understanding of what people all over the world are passionate about. And they’ve made it clear that they have a love for sports, particularly football,” said David Wyler, VP Partnerships, Tinder. “Football is a sport where anything can happen at any moment. We wanted to be true to the game and do something unexpected by surprising the fans and our users with news of our partnership in a fun and creative way."

Commenting on the partnership, Tom Glick, Chief Commercial Officer of City Football Group, said:

“Tinder is a huge global platform which, just like football, is bringing millions of people together every day all around the world. Football is all about a community of fans, sharing moments, emotions and passion for the sport they love.

"Together with Tinder, we have a great opportunity to explore how we can combine Tinder’s significant appeal and reach with our global audience to create even more relationships in a new, fun and creative way. We believe this will be a perfect match for Tinder and for City.”