Why Commercial Football Academies Work Better
June 10, 2024
❌Why do football schools/academies affiliated with senior clubs struggle to perform as well as their commercial counterparts? ❌
A few years ago, the difference in quality was much more noticeable. Improvements are happening, but too slowly. The progress is mainly due to coaches and managers with experience in commercial academies increasingly moving into local clubs or entire organizations being taken over by people from commercial structures
This shows that without an entrepreneurial approach, as developed in commercial projects, it’s difficult to succeed in football clubs at any level of competition.
In these clubs, you often find people working “after hours,” purely out of passion and charitable engagement. This means they do not treat their responsibilities as a priority, and consequently, a lack of time generates many mistakes and creates room for shortcomings.
Should we accept amateurism just because it’s free, while project leaders dedicate only 5% of the time that the project deserves?
Today, we pay attention to the quality of what we eat and drink, willingly paying more for better products. So why, in football training, do we accept a “poor-quality product” just because it’s nearby, cheap, or sometimes even free?
Commercial projects stand out primarily because of their management, specifically the people in leadership roles, for whom this is usually their full-time job. The quality of training depends on them, through hiring the right specialists, maintaining professional standards, and planning the future of the project.Why does a professional manager perform better than a part-time enthusiast in the same role? Because someone who gives up a secure career to pursue a football project treats it as a life mission, dedicating themselves fully and risking failure if excellence is not achieved. This often contrasts with club boards, which are often chosen informally, without long-term vision or proper competencies.
Parents enrolling their children in football schools rarely analyze the sporting level, coach qualifications (not necessarily the ones on paper), or the motivations of those running the project. A club with its own pitch near home and low monthly fees seems attractive, but it is rarely evaluated for quality or the value it will provide to the young footballer.
On the other hand, a commercial football school, though more expensive and located further away, offers a higher sporting level, committed coaches, regular training, well-maintained pitches, and additional initiatives such as day camps, training camps, birthday parties, trips, and tournaments. All of this requires significant work and dedication, which often goes unnoticed by parents.
The positive trend is that more clubs are now collaborating with commercial academies, forming valuable partnerships.
I’ve noticed that if a club is not controlled by a majority private owner, and political influence or connections play a significant role, these changes tend to be unstable. Of course, not all clubs fall into this category! There are also clubs and academies that operate well, but, as I mentioned, they are managed by people fully committed 100% of their time. These are the minority.
There are also commercial academies that leave much to be desired, mainly due to their clear profit focus. Still, they operate better than casually run clubs because, without good business management, it is hard to achieve systematic development and raise the organization’s level of work.
So, dear parent, choose wisely! The prices for training or membership in a football school are just the tip of the iceberg. The ultimate cost and value of what your child receives in return can far exceed financial expenses. Don’t accept mediocrity just because something is slightly cheaper per month than a McDonald’s meal. Check reviews, analyze, talk to parents from different schools, and make an informed decision!
And why do football schools charge fees for training/membership at all? Is it just business? I’ll focus on this topic in upcoming posts, so I encourage you to follow along 🙂
