30 Nov 2015 15:23:59
Question for the eds. just moved to Singapore and there are some big kids Soccer clubs with affiliations to PL sides (notably a big Arsenal kids setup)
How many teams do this around the world? Are they doing it to grow support base or to also try generate talent? Or are they just making money through franchising?
Does Liverpool do this anywhere? I'd love to send my kids to one, unfortunately they seem to be learning to like Arsenal a bit too much for my liking :)
{Ed002's Note - All "major" sides do it at various places in the world - Barcelona also have one in Singapore. Bayern Munich in India and Dubai; Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea have several. From memory Jakarta and South Africa are hosts to Liverpool and next up is Dubai.}
30 Nov 2015 15:39:43
Seriously generating of talents from south east asia will very very gradual process as oppose from africa.
30 Nov 2015 18:14:31
None of these "international football academies" setup by these clubs will have the primary motivation to scout young talents, and whether they are in Africa, south east, west or central asia, kids won't be going to play for the parent academy unless in exceptional cases. The objective will be to develope talent for the concerned countries.
01 Dec 2015 01:52:56
Scouting response seems consistent with the quality of play I've seen so far (including my own)!
Does seem to generate a lot of buy-in from the youngsters though. Probably doing a lot for the brand name with 100's of your kids now associating themselves with the Arsenal name.