Since starting our research, back in 2017, we have come across hundreds of independent schools in UK and many do have fantastic programmes. When a family is paying a lot of money for something, you expect to see results and many UK boarding schools produce these in many academic, musical and sporting areas. The vast majority of students go on to University and many oif the students become successful. However, when it comes to football/ soccer, many of these schools claim to be "the best UK boarding schools for football" and given what we know we don't necessarily agree!
Many of these private boarding schools have created football academies within the school, not only to help the boarding school achieve success on the field, but as a recruitment tool for students from around the world. Many programmes are great, they have good coaches, they play fixtures once a week and the players get a fantastic education. This gives young players a great ‘plan B’ to fall back on if they don’t manage to become a professional footballer. However, it has to be said that many of the top schools do not have football as a major sport, do not have the facilities or coaching quality or progression pathways a player needs to truly develop. Luckily, we have done the hard work for you and looked very hard for the best football schools in the UK - the one’s who really care about getting players to become professional, the ones with success stories, the ones that win national tournaments, and find out how they do this.
The schools we recommend for football firstly, have great coaches. Not just good ones, but the best qualified and experienced ones out there. This is paramount to a young player’s development. All our programmes boast either ‘UEFA A’ or ‘UEFA Pro’(!) licenced coaches. Many of our programmes are led by ex or current professional players and managers as we understand that they have the experience and understand what it takes to ‘make it.’
The football schools we recommend are the best in the UK. They provide lessons in sport psychology, a vital factor in any sports person’s mind set. They provide video analysis, with games being filmed so the players can watch themselves play and receive feedback, not based on opinions, but based on facts and statistics. The football school’s we recommend are continuously successful, which attracts scouts and football clubs. They play friendlies against youth academies, which means that those games are in fact, a trial. If one plays better than their opposite number, which player will the football club want to sign?
All in all, many schools have lovely looking websites and brochures. Many schools say they are ‘linked’ to football clubs and many football schools think that their way, is the best way. Fortunately, there is now an independent, experienced and knowledgeable service (which is free!), for parents to get a real honest and genuine comparison from. We offer a free, no obligation service where we are happy to share with you our thoughts and experiences on what we consider to be the best UK schools for football and will try and give you bespoke recommendations based on what is important to you. Get in touch with us and we will be delighted to start helping you find the perfect football school academy or programme!
