A company that helps young international football players to develop and be scouted with the potential to turn professional has taken a 5-person office at The EpiCentre, Haverhill.
The company, UK Football Group runs UK Football Trials and UK Football Schools. Its trials company runs one day football trials and five day training and trial camps throughout the UK that brings together 10-20 scouts from non-league to Premier League clubs, in one place looking for budding professionals.
Whilst UK Football Schools helps parents from across the globe with talented footballing offspring to find the UK’s finest football specialist schools, that also have excellent academic results for players to fall back on.
James Price, a founding director of the company, says: “Talented footballers often get frustrated at the lack of opportunities available to them in football. To get a club opportunity, players are often relying on a scout watching their game, looking for a player of their age, position and playing style and they must hope they perform well while being watched. UK Football Trials overcome this issue by running sessions with multiple scouts from different divisions together all in one place. The trials use expert UEFA A / Pro licensed coaches, and consist of training sessions followed by age appropriate matches,” adds Price.
An incredible 1 in 6 players on average had scout details requested last year with hundreds of documented success stories recorded. The most notable of these is Daniel Jebbison from Sheffield United who came through their system and became the youngest player to score on his first start in Premier league history in a match against Everton in 2021.
For the Football Schools part of the business Price says: We used to be approached by parents from across the world looking for the very best UK private schools for football and education – with so many options available it is bewildering and confusing trying to make the right choice. UK Football Schools has visited and vetted a huge number of schools and recommends the most suitable football specialist schools for each student.”
Price says they are considering extending their schools business where they don’t just recruit footballers for schools but recruit for schools in general. “We will probably look to do sports specific recruitment finding suitable schools for cricketers, rugby players, golfers even tennis players. There is incredible expertise within the private school system and a lot of them will be specialists in certain areas with amazing coaches.”
Andrew Bell, Centre Manager at The EpiCentre, says: “We welcome James and his team to the centre. The huge variety of occupiers we have here, of which UK Football Group is a great example, fits exactly our ethos of creating an environment where entrepreneurial growing companies can take space on flexible terms and benefit from the superb facilities we provide together with the business support that is available to all.”
To find out more about Office Space | The EpiCentre | Haverhill, Cambridge (epicentrehaverhill.co.uk)
To find out more about Business Support | EpiCentre | Cambridge, Haverhill (epicentrehaverhill.co.uk)
