Kent based football Academy Soccer Elite FA have some exciting things on the horizon including a partnership with European giants Barcelona.

Maidstone based Soccer Elite FA are to be one of the main UK partners in a new initiative in Barcelona starting in February.

Their role will be to work in partnership with coaches from Barcelona & Espanyol to oversee a talent ID initiative for Spanish players between the ages of 15 & 17 who are looking to secure opportunities with Professional clubs within the UK market.

Over the weekend a talent pool of around 100 trial players have been put through their paces by a combined coaching team, Angel Alcolea Conchillo (former Barcelona coach) and Juan Manuel Murlà Cruz (former Espanyol coach), along with the Soccer Elite FA coaches, with a view to selecting 16 players to come across to UK to train & play against selected professional & semi-professional opposition.

Providing the backdrop to the 3-day trials program has been content from Soccer Elite FA’s renowned ‘mysoccercoach’ APP which has received plaudits from across the globe & in particular, their co-partners from within the Barcelona set up and SEFA’s Stuart Bell is thrilled to have got the partnership with the Spanish club:

“It’s great for the county of Kent that an Academy with our profile is getting the level of attention that we are with the partnership with Barcelona and Espanyol.”

“Myself, Tony Browne and Josh Stanford go out there to work closely with the Barcelona coaches and to select players who haven’t quite made it in La Liga Academies and give them a chance to come over to the UK.”

“We’ll also be taking 370 people out there in March for the Barcelona Trophy across seventeen teams. For us to be able to take that many people epitomises the SEFA family.”

SEFA will be hoping to emulate what happened just up the road at Gillingham where they took goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga from having been released by Valencia, played him for 22 games before selling him to Premier League side Southampton for a reported £1.5 million:

“We’re all about giving talented players the chance to play. There are lots of players out there that haven’t made it to the top echelons of the game and with the partnerships we now have in places like Sweden and Spain, we’re looking at bringing players to the UK.” said Bell.

“Part of that agreement is that some of our players can go out there and get some more experience. If we can get some players the experience they need and then Andy Hessenthaler or Martin Allen want to bring them into Gillingham, then that’s great.”

Soccer Elite FA was formed in 2006 and since then it has grown into the number 1 football Academy across the South East, with in excess of 700+ players within its Academy, along with many more players enjoying their themed Soccer Schools that run throughout the recognised school holidays.

Since launching, Soccer Elite FA have seen in excess of 100+ players signed by professional Academies as well as recently achieving 2 England youth representatives in both boys and girls football and Bell believes it is important they work closely with the Kent community:

“It’s important for us at Soccer Elite to be part of grassroots football and we do a lot with local schools. Irrespective of being an Academy, we like to give something back and our partnership with Maidstone United is beneficial to them as they grow their strategic objective of getting back to the Football League.”

“The brand of Maidstone United and Soccer Elite makes it a powerful partnership and we will both continue to do a lot of community work.”

“We also do a lot for local charities. Maidstone United do a lot with Heart of Kent Hospice, we do a lot with Demelza Hospice Care for Children and now this year Teens Unite for Cancer.”

“Everything we do has a community aspect to it, but we don’t forget our philosophy of nurturing talent to give them the opportunity that they might not get if Soccer Elite wasn’t here.”

Meanwhile, the Soccer Elite FA Scholars have been invited to play the Wales under 18 team at Newport on Friday.

This game will form part of the Wales u18′s National Training Camp ahead of international fixtures taking place during the second half of the season.

For an Academy like Soccer Elite FA to be afforded fixtures of this calibre demonstrates yet again the high quality Scholars programme that they provide and Head Coach Lee Spiller says the whole squad are looking forward to the trip:

“We’ll be travelling up on Thursday and we’ll be taking a squad of sixteen for the game. The lads have worked really hard and we’ll train together on Thursday afternoon on a 3G pitch that they’ve organised for us.”

“It’s a great opportunity for our lads and we’ve seen the standard raised in our sessions as everyone is fighting for places.”

“We played against Blackpool a few months ago and we were identified as a good side to play against. It’s a great scoop for us and just goes to show the standard of players we have got in the Academy.”

Meanwhile, Academy footballer Lewis Wright is hoping the opportunity to play against some of the best youngsters in Wales will help him and his team-mates raise their own game:

“It’s a great opportunity for us and we’re keen to show how we can compete at that level. We get to stay up there overnight and play Airbus too.”

“We’ve all come from different areas and have only been together for about five months, so games like this will help the team bond.”

“It’s great being with Soccer Elite as football clubs wants players to come in with certain attributes and they give us the right kind of coaching to get us to the required standard.”

KSN will be following the progress of Soccer Elite over the coming months with more information available at www.soccerelitefa.com