How to develop an Academy?
How to promote players?
How to start?
What is the hardest thing in the process?

“I didn’t want something to fall back on (ie. Plan B), but something to fall forward, as I wanted to know where I was laying on”.

Denzel Washington

To start from nothing is always hard, regardless the conditions and contexts. A Football Academy, as other very populated businesses, can be clearly a challenge that will take (not to mention others) a lot of energy. It takes time, and I would start with this: expectations. To answer that, we must understand clearly what are the risks of opening an Academy in a determined location, how is the demography, buying power, competition/Clubs or Academies in the surroundings, etc. I would recommend to use any of the most known business analysis (SWOT, PESTLE, Six Sigma, Porters’ Five Forces, etc) and position the Academy with a clear idea of the purpose, which age categories will be involved and, most importantly, the Mission and the Vision ahead.

From here, assuming all is done correctly and ready to move ahead, understanding the pros and cons, there’s a need to understand how the Training Structure will be. Understanding this is very important, I would even consider to be the pilar of every challenge that will come after, once this will then guide the full Academy into the same Vision, embracing the same Principles, from Coaching Staff to players profile, etc.

How can we define what Training Structure will be having at the Academy? Well, if the above answers were completed, this point gets way simpler, because NOW we already know where we are moving towards. As Denzel Washington said “I didn’t want something to fall back on (ie. Plan B), but something to fall forward, as I wanted to know where I was laying on”. In this case, it’s very similar. You want to know, and your team to know, what will happen when it works, regardless your objective.

Most importantly, understand that there’s a few elements that are transversal to the Training Structure, Vision and Mission, Methodologies, Profiles or Objectives proposed where you will definitely want your Academy focused: Passion for the Game and the ball.
There’s always only one ball, so take care of it.

“We all start to be in love with this Game because of one thing alone, the ball”
Pep Guardiola