A look back at the last 18 months...

What a year! We saw some extraordinary times around the world, with a global pandemic the like of which has never been seen before.

Despite this, in 2019, UK Football Trials, our sister company, helped no fewer than 56 young footballers to sign for professional football clubs. This was an absolutely fantastic result for us, in that we were able to change the lives of so many aspiring footballers, which is really what we are all about.

Through our trials and camps, we had 734 players scouted which worked out at around one in six of the players who attended. Of these, no fewer than 306 players went into clubs for trials, many of them into more than one club across all standards of football.

Only recently, we have had a player sign for Chelsea’s academy, universally recognised as one of the very best academies on the planet!

You can see the stories of some of these players on our UKFT’s website, by clicking here     https://ukfootballtrials.com/success-stories

We were very fortunate at UK Football Schools, in that schools have been given highest priority by the Government and were able to open as normal in September 2020. This means that the football continues at the very high levels we have come to expect.

Starting in September 2020, we helped 131 players in to the very best football schools in England, 53 players in to some of the best international football academies in Europe and international soccer academy in England, and 24 older players in to the best football Universities in the UK.  This represents a total of 208 young players, with around 20 more set to begin in January 2021. This is in addition to the 125 players and their families we helped who started in September 2019, and the 31 players we helped start back in September 2018, when we first started the company.

From those who started in 2019 (so this past football season), we have seen some tremendous success stories. For privacy’s sake, I will just state the first names;

Kaspar – called up to represent Estonia U18’s

Luciano – called up to train with the Albania U18’s

Ohad – called up to train for Israel U18’s

Issac – called up to play for Kenya National Youth team

Granit – called up to represent his National Youth Side

Jake – called up to train for his national youth team

Bruna – obtained a scholarship for women’s soccer in the US

Alex – Signed first team contract at a Conference club

Zane – Signed for Championship club

Josh – Signed for a Championship club

Sam – Signed for a semi pro club in Spain

Deniche – trials at Huddersfield Town

Ethan – trials at Northampton and Bury

Razwan – trials at Blackburn Rovers

Kanayo – trials at West Brom, Watford and Forest Green

Freddie – trials at Stoke City and Sheffield United

Kyle – trials at Solihull Moors

Jack – trials at a football league club

Devonte – trials at a football league club

Christian – trials at a EPL and a football league club

Matthew - trials at Fleetwood Town 

Joe - trials at Fleetwood Town

Jack – obtained A’s at A Level and progressed on to a top UK University

All these players were playing in their home nations, at grassroots or school level before making the decision to attend a top UK Football School. Opting for this pathway, through football schools, soccer schools in England, International soccer academy in England, or in Europe, gives players opportunities to develop as footballers, and to be widely seen showcasing their skills, in addition to providing them with an outstanding private education to realise their full academic potential.

Well done to them all and we are all looking forward to much more success this coming year, when we trust the Covid pandemic will have very much less of an effect on us all!