School Football Academies established to increase opportunities for aspiring footballers

As part of national football project Unleash the Roar, Minister of Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong announced the launch of the School Football Academies (SFAs) on Jun 23 at Jurongville Secondary School.

The SFAs represent one of the eight pillars in the project, which aims to provide new pathways and increased training opportunities for aspiring footballers to succeed. This initiative involves ten chosen SFAs, which includes Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road), Assumption English School, Jurongville Secondary School, Meridian Secondary School, Montfort Secondary School, Queensway Secondary School, Sengkang Secondary School, Serangoon Secondary School, Serangoon Secondary School, St. Patrick’s School and Singapore Sports School.

Each SFA will be helmed by a team of full-time coaches, which includes local and foreign coaches from Spanish top-flight La Liga, who are tasked with establishing an effective pipeline for aspiring local talents. The programme taps on the expertise of these coaches, which incorporates established training methods from European and Spanish football teams.

Youths under the programme will undergo a structured training curriculum that equips them with unique training and athlete development. Training frequency will increase to four times a week, up from the average of two in most secondary school football programmes.

The SFA programme will also include focused classroom and time management sessions, which helps youths to stay disciplined off the pitch.

SFA footballers will be taught to play a high-tempo, possession-based playstyle that forms a unified Singapore footballing identity. 

Former Singapore national defender Baihakki Khaizan, whose son is involved in one of the SFAs at Anglo Chinese School (Barker Road), holds high hopes towards the initiative.

“With SFA, potential talents can immerse in the best possible footballing environment.

“I hope that with this new programme, we can develop a footballing curriculum that will take us into new footballing success.”