The chosen best talent in Singapore will join 99 other footballers from around the world for trials with Arsene Wenger in England. Only 8 will make it for a prestigious placement in the Nike Academy: Full-expenses paid year-long football training opportunity in UK, starting July 2011.
Singapore (August 29, 2010) – NIKE Singapore launches ‘The Chance’ — a global search for talented footballers to join the Nike Academy, a high performance training program, supported by the Premier League in England. The best 100 players from across 40 countries will then be invited to a final trial in England, where they will compete for one of eight international places in the Nike Academy. The eight who are chosen will have their expenses paid to live in the UK for a year starting in July 2011 and be a full-time member of the Nike Academy.
Kicking off the search for Singapore’s best football talent today was local football legend Fandi Ahmad, who heads Nike’s panel of coaches for ‘The Chance’ trials in Singapore. Joining Fandi in the panel are coaches Aide Iskandar, former national captain and coach of local S-league club Seng Kang Punggol FC, as well as Nazri Nasir, former national captain and 5-time S-league champion.
In a bid to scout the fields of Singapore to give talented players a chance to get selected during local trials in September, the three coaches visited a game between two top teams from social amateur league (Dare To Dream) at Bedok North Secondary school this afternoon to identify players with potential. After witnessing a high tempo clash between teams Beyond Imagination and The Orange County which ended in a 2-1 victory to Beyond Imagination, the coaches eventually invited seven players to participate in the first round of trials in September.
Three players from Beyond Imagination (Tan Wei Xing Jeremy, 21, Mohammed Nooruddeen Bin Tajoddeen, 19, Muhammad Helmi Bin Jaafar, 22) were selected, while four players from The Orange County (Christopher James Van Huizen, 17, Peter Chai, 21, Peter Keith Rajendran, 21, Basil Gerard Teo, 17) impressed enough for an invitation.
“I was very excited when I saw Fandi and all the ex-national players watching us from the side of the field when we were playing. I’m very happy that I played well enough to get noticed. Soccer is my life and I’ve been playing the game since I was 5, so this is a dream come true for me,” said Helmi, 22, a civil servant from Team Beyond Imagination.
Despite losing the game this afternoon, selected centre-back Peter Chai, 21, NSF, had much to cheer about. He said, “I know a lot of people who’ve given up on their football dreams, so it’s amazing that Nike has created this opportunity for those who want to continue pursuing them.”
Echoing his sentiments, fellow selected team mate Peter Keith Rajendran, 21, who comes from a family or Arsenal fans, said, “It’s every little boy’s dream to play in the Premier League. I watch it religiously every weekend, and getting to join the Nike Academy and meet Arsene Wenger during the trials would be an awesome opportunity. ”
“Nike is passionate about giving footballers insider access to the best coaching and training in the world to improve their game and fulfill their potential,” said Vijaya Kumar Jayaraj, Singapore Marketing Manager. He added: “‘The Chance’ is a unique opportunity for players to prove themselves on the global stage, take their game to the next level and even get a shot at a professional contract. It is also a reinforcement of Nike’s ongoing efforts in developing and recognizing youth talent, providing them an opportunity to make their dreams come true.”
Recently announced in South Africa by Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal FC, the Nike Academy offers non-contract players unattached to professional clubs a chance to enter the professional game through world-class coaching and games against elite academies and professional reserve teams.
This programme also marks the next stage of Nike’s “Write the Future” campaign, where some of the world’s best players including Ronaldo, Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney feature in a short film about iconic game moments where headlines are written from a single pass, or one strike can bring a nation eternal happiness, while bringing others to their knees.
In Singapore, players can write their own future at www.nikefootball.com.sg, by generating videos and visuals of their own football skills to get noticed and selected to participate in local events and trials in their country. Since the academy’s start in 2009, eight players in the UK have received professional contracts.
“Providing young players from around the world with the opportunity of elite coaching and state-of-the-art facilities to reach their full potential is a very powerful proposition,” said Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal FC. “I look forward to actively participating in the scouting and review of exciting young players as they compete in ‘The Chance’.”
As members of the Nike Academy, players become full-time participants at a residential training centre in England with access to elite coaches, nutritionists, psychologists and fitness conditioners, along with world class facilities to perform at the highest level.
“The Nike Academy has a number of success stories with players that have entered the professional game, helped by the superb environment that has been created,” said Ged Roddy, Director of Youth at the Premier League. “’The Chance’ is a great opportunity to identify talented young players to show their skills, get noticed and win a place at the academy.”
Participants enter by building their Facebook campaigns from July 15, 2010. Scouting by Nike’s local panel of coaches will continue for the next two weeks before local trials start on 15 September, 2010. The top 30 selected players will take part in a Final Trial on 2 – 3 October, which will see the top 18 players playing a friendly game on the second day of the final, before one player is selected to represent Singapore in the Nike Academy trials in London.
In January 2011, the top 100 players selected from 40 countries will participate in a final trial in England. Eight players will be selected from this event to start their full-time Academy training in July 2011.
“It’s great that Nike is using The Chance to give back to the football community in Singapore and creating great opportunities for footballers that we didn’t have during our time,” said Fandi. “There are still some talented players out there that are not playing in local leagues because of personal commitments but going to Europe would be a totally different ball game. The overseas exposure would definitely benefit football players here and I’m very happy to help discover more football talent in Singapore.”
For more information or to register for ‘The Chance’, visit www.nikefootball.com.sg
