Player pathway

Remember, there is no obligation to complete this entire journey. It all depends on you. At PPF we believe in creating an all inclusive environment that welcomes players of all abilities and ambitions. As long as you work hard and listen to our coaches, there is always a place for you.

PPF Training centre induction:

Enjoy a free trial session in which you get to meet your coach, teammates and the rest of our lovely staff. The session will cover the basic football skills every player needs such as ball mastery, passing, receiving, shooting etc.

PPF training centre weekly sessions:

These sessions entail year long programmes that focus on developing the player in a holistic way. Every week, a new topic is covered in a fun and engaging way. This means a player will be trained to play as many positions as possible on a football pitch. This promotes well roundedness and allows the sessions participants to be technically proficient no matter where they are the pitch. All sessions will feature at least 25 minutes of matches so players will always have the chance to practice what they are learning.

PPF weekend league:

Congratulations! Your coach has been impressed with your development and attitude in training. You have now been invited to play for the PPF team in weekend league matches. At this stage players are able to showcase their talent in real matches and potentially impress scouts who may be watching.

Elite Performance Development Programme:

You have been identified by our coaches as someone who has a lot of potential. One of our Elite Performance Development Programme coaches has invited you to train with our best players. Those who do well here can be invited to play in academy showcase matches in front scouts from the biggest clubs in the land. These training sessions are tough but players will learn all about life in academy football as we prepare them for their incredible journeys.

Introduction to academy football:

Congratulations! You have been invited by a professional scout for a trial at their club. Good luck. At this stage we will allow the players to leave as they continue their journey to greatness.

Now that you have been briefed on our pathway, see the various potential outcomes of joining PPF below…

Meet Harry…

He joined our development centre simply to have fun and enjoy playing football with his friends. Soon after joining our coaches quickly realised Harry had a lot of potential as player and registered him onto the PPF weekend league team. Harry has since grown tremendously as a player, scoring and assisting in most matches. He managed to help his team gain promotion by finishing the season with the most assists. He is currently being considered for our Elite Performance Development Programme.

Meet Lamine…

Lamine joined PPF at the age of 8. Despite coming from abroad and having little experience of playing organised football he managed to settle in very quickly. Our coaches were impressed with his raw talent and his ability to learn; praising how well he managed opposition strikers as a defender - especially those who were bigger than him. After tearing it up in the weekend league as a defender and midfielder for 6 months he was approached by scouts from several EFL clubs. He would go on to join a Championship academy.

Meet Helen…

Helen has been playing at one of our training centres for the past few months. She enjoys playing with her friends and meeting new people. Helen prefers to play football for fun rather than play competitively in the league.

Meet the director…

Ayoub Khelloul is a UEFA licensed coach turned football academy director. His body of work involves coaching football in the community, grassroots clubs, international academies, schools and community extensions of Premier League clubs. After completing a degree in sport coaching, the director set on the mission to expand PPF across England and Europe as a talent hub that produces skilful for the world of football while still being open to players of all abilities and ambitions; in his eyes not everyone has to be successful by ‘going pro’ - for some success may be having a great time or making new friends. This directors vision is not only to develop successful players but also successful coaches. Every two months Ayoub runs coach development sessions in which he shares his knowledge and expertise with our coaches. At PPF everybody grows together.

Scout Visits

At our training centre we aim to invite scouts and academy coaches roughly every two months. These scouts will provide feedback on the players development as well as the quality of the coaching. This helps establish a pipeline to the clubs they represent and presents our better players with opportunities to trial at academies should they receive invites. These newly forged relationships can also help our coaches expand their network and perhaps to be even recommended to such clubs.

Looking ahead…

Our aim is to establish more connections with more Premier League and EFL clubs. A big part of PPF’s vision is to create more opportunities for young players of different abilities to be able to progress to a higher level of football without the unnecessary restrictions many young athletes face today. This means more showcase matches, more friendlies against academy sides, more training centres, more scout visits, trips to professional team’s training grounds and participation in bigger tournaments abroad. Our aim is to have an academy scout visit our training centres once a month. Our Foundation department will continue to grow with more centres opening as well as the provision of lunchtime school clubs and afterschool provisions throughout the country.