It’s interesting, if you look at England’s most recent fixtures, you will notice that the vast majority of players who have those squad places are very young. The likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Declan Rice, Trent Alexander Arnold, Joe Gomez, Marcos Rashford, Jaden Sancho, James Ward Prowse to name a few are really beginning to make a name for themselves. Even ‘senior’ players such as Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane are under twenty-five years old!
So how is this happening in England?
The UK government invested billions of pounds into football in the last twenty years and we are now beginning to see the affects of the investment. Spain did this thirty years ago, inventing ‘tippa tappa’ football and they went on to win the World Cup twenty years later. England are now producing players as a result of this investment.
So where did we invest?
The bulk of the money has gone in to grass roots football, this is giving players the opportunity to receive good football provisions, meaning good coaching (the coaching infrastructure has improved so much with official tiers of coaches), good facilities (there are now thousands of all weather 4g pitches up and down the country) and even football clubs have more money to re-invest in scouting infrastructures.
Importantly, football in schools now have much better footballing facilities, spend more time playing football and children are encouraged to play more. Soccer boarding schools, top boarding schools and football colleges in England have improved hugely and the best soccer academies in England are much more developed. English schools football is flourishing with national and local competitions available for all schools football teams, again including top boarding schools in England, soccer boarding schools and football colleges.
This means that many more children are playing football regularly, in school and in football academies in England, receiving good direction and on great pitches. With the introduction of video analysis, what players eat, psychology in sport all improving, particularly in football boarding schools in England, the future looks bright for English football!
No Comments yet!