Fixtures out for returning students!

Since opening last September at five pilot clubs - Leek Town, Mickleover Sports, Newcastle Town, Radcliffe Borough and Romulus - the EVO-STIK Northern Premier League's ground-breaking academy has more than doubled in size.

Over the course of last season, seven more clubs - Belper Town, Kidsgrove Athletic, Lancaster City, Matlock Town, Mossley AFC, Sutton Coldfield Town, Warrington Town and Witton Albion - announced they were joining the ranks of the first league-wide academy in English football combining football with further education.

Launched with the backing of the Football Association to provide career pathways into the football industry, the NPLFA's 16 to 18-year-old students study on two year courses for Level 3 Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) qualifications while being trained on a daily basis by UEFA qualified coaches and competing in the NPL Youth League and national competitions like the FA Youth Cup.

An NPLFA spokesman said: "The students at all our clubs were so eager to get started last week that the majority of them arrived well before the scheduled 9am start to embark on an exciting year ahead for their education and football.

"There are only a few weeks of hard work in the classroom and on the training pitch to come now before the NPLFA's league begins. Everybody from the students to their tutors and coaches are looking forward to another great year."

The NPLFA has gone from strength to strength since being launched. As well as its dramatic expansion, the academy has entered into a new strategic partnership with the world’s leading provider of sports scholarships that could see students playing and coaching in the United States while linking up with German giants Bayern Munich.

Announced at the start of this summer, the NPLFA is now an official partner of Soccer Chance USA, specialists in innovative soccer scholarships for UK students and the UK arm of Global Premier Soccer.

GPS, a large US soccer business with many thousands of players in its system, is also the official partner to FC Bayern Munich in North America. The partnership will see both SCUSA and GPS carry out presentations at every NPLFA club this season offering routes for students to gain scholarships or full-time coaching positions in the US.

The NPL Youth League's fixtures all kick off on Wednesdays from September 30 but are subject to change with details available at www.nplfa.co.uk.

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