UCFB’s elite football academies in London and Manchester are specifically designed to enhance the educational development of aspiring footballers whilst helping them to secure a professional playing contract along the way. Kevin Hodgson, the Head Coach at the UCFB Etihad Campus Academy, explains why it was set-up and how the team have risen through the ranks in recent years…

Launched in 2018, the aim of the academy is to allow elite players who have been released from professional clubs the opportunity to continue to develop their footballing talents through full-time coaching and education programmes.

The academy provides opportunities for aspiring players to study university degrees in business, coaching and related industries alongside their football training programme. At the academy, elite players can train full-time with the schedule and attention to detail of a professional footballer. As a player, you will train at UCFB during the week and also play in the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) league. The programme focuses on placing players at the appropriate level and specific club for the stage of their development they’re currently at. We have several partnerships formed with semi-professional clubs in the North West of England, ranging from The National League to the North West Counties League.

UCFB Manchester Academy (there is also a Wembley equivalent) is based at Curzon Ashton, where we train between two, three and four times a week and play in the BUCS league on a Wednesday. We’ve won the league the last two years and recently got promoted into League One. The academy is devised around your studies, so you will train in the morning and attend lectures in the afternoon.

We have had a very strong start so far. UCFB have been in pre-season for the last five weeks and in that time have had lots of new players come and attend the trials. Our first game of the pre-season was against a strong Halifax under 18s side, and after going behind early on we kept pushing and scored two goals in the second half to win the game 2-1, with goals from Frazer Garner and Facundo Gomez.

The side built on their opening game comeback win over Halifax with a solid performance in the second game against a strong under 18s Salford FC side. UCFB went 2-0 up, setting the tone early with a superb free kick from Ben Woods, before conceding twice in the second half and the game ended 2-2.

With back to back promotions in the BUCS league, UCFB’s Manchester academy are excited to compete in Division One this season against some very strong university teams. We have seven pre-season friendlies scheduled in, including playing professional opposition. The one I am looking forward to most is when we travel down to Nottingham Trent University in September, as they play in the Premier BUCS League. This excites me, the staff and the players as we want to try and compete at this level in the future.