Football and education: why we make every player under 21 keep studying
We require an active education plan for every player under 21 we represent. Here's why — and what it costs us when an agency doesn't.
Grace SsempalaHead of Youth Development
There's a tension at the heart of representing young players: the more seriously they take their football, the harder it is to take school seriously. We've decided that's a tension we're willing to lose money over.
Why it's non-negotiable
Football careers are short. The average professional career, even for those who make it, is under fifteen years. The career-ending injury risk in any given season is non-trivial. The probability that a 14-year-old standout becomes a senior international is, statistically, low.
Education is what makes the bad outcomes survivable.
What our education plans look like
Every player we sign under 21 has a written education plan agreed with their family. It survives transfers. It is reviewed every term. Where the player has moved abroad, we work with the receiving academy to ensure schooling continues.
Some of our players take their final secondary exams while training full-time at a senior club. We are proud of every one of them.
The agency cost
Insisting on education slows down some commercial decisions. We've turned down trial invitations because they would have cost a player a year of school. We've delayed loan moves to keep an academic year intact.
We've never regretted it.