Beyond professional soccer: preparing young players for the future after being released
As This article was written for SIGA Sport Integrity week by former Guernsey National Team Manager and CD Rincon (Mlaga, Spain) coach Kevin Graham.
Becoming a player at a professional soccer club was once every young kids dream.
Soccers role in modern society may have changed - the sport has a great deal more competition these days when competing for the hearts and minds of young athletes - but it remains the dream for so many. With over 10,000 young players registered in the academies of English professional soccer clubs, and thousands more at partner clubs, development groups or satellite training centres, the sport still manages to attract the lions share of Englands young sporting talent.
A tiny percentage of academy soccer players become professionals
That also means that every year thousands of children and young players suffer the disappointment of being released.
Words like rejected, forgotten and discarded are often used to describe the process, reflecting the harsh reality of a sport and an industry where competition for places is as tough as, if not tougher than, any industry out there. Of those entering academies, less than 0.5% will ever make a living from the sport. Furthermore, the reality is much worse. Of those that do actually make a living from soccer at one stage, most will not get beyond their second contract and will need to enter the traditional workplace by the age of 23 - something most are underprepared for and underqualified to do. According to FIFPRO, over 72% of professional soccer players have no academic or vocational qualifications post high school.
