| Moses Duko Asaga | Ghana | Selected to train with the Ghana National under 17 squad. |
| Eric Behrens | Germany | Trialled with Manchester City FC and signed academy contract with Derby County FC |
| Nazar Kimit | Ukraine | Signed for Ukraine 2nd Division club FC Skala |
| Sam Zimmerman | Switzerland | Signed for Swiss club SC Kriens – selected to play for under 21s squad of national team of Liechtenstein. As of Nov 2015 – Playing Division 1 Soccer at California State University Bakersfield |
| Ismail Zaan Amir | Maldives | Selected to play for and Captain Maldives national under 21s |
| Carlos Mora | Spain | Trialled with English Premier League Club Everton FC, Rochdale and Bury FC |
| Carlos Acuna | Venezuela | Signed for Venezuelan club Trujillanos FC |
| Miguel Hamutena | Namibia | Signed for Norwegian 2nd division club Strommen FC |
| Blaiz Hall | UK | Trialling with Crewe Alexander FC – English Football League 1 |
| Quin Bredin | Canada | Selected for the Vancouver White Caps pro pathway Programme. Earned trials with English Championship club Birmingham City and English Premier League club Stoke City |
| Chafik Naceri | Canada | signed for Spanish Sigunda Division team Alcorcon AD Liga Adelante |
| Cristian Cantero | Puerto Rico | Represented his country playing in the national side in a friendly against Canada |
| Matt Jacobs | USA | Trialled with semi-pro club Witton Albion |
| Lawrence Hanna | Australia | Trialled with English League Two club Accrington Stanley FC |
Carlos Mora, our IH Manchester goalkeeper, has been in demand by two local pro clubs. Carlos continues to train with the goalkeeping staff at Everton FC and visited Bury FC for a trial session.
While participating in a PFA coaching sessions at Carrington Carlos was also spotted by a highly respected coach who recommended him to Rochdale FC where he has now visited for a training session.
It looks like Carlos has caught the eye of a few coaches in his time here in Manchester, let’s hope he receives good news from one of these clubs soon.
PRO SUCCESS! Former IH Manchester academy player, Carlos Acuna (18 from Venezuela) now on Trujillanos FC U20 squad. Trujillanos FC are a professional club in the Primera División in Venezuea. Carlos attended the IH Manchester during the 2013/14 academic year and was a valuable part of the of the IH Manchester team. His performances in training and games were always top level and he showed that he had ability in every training session. During his time in Manchester Carlos studies English and became very proficient and fluent. After leaving the IH Manchester programme on the Christmas break to head back home to Venezuela Carlos trialed out a clubs near his home town and is now doing what he wanted to do, playing professionally.
Carlos has a very bright future ahead of him in the game, so keep an eye out for him in the headlines in future.
Following on from the UK football trials this October, straight after the session, even before he’d left the pitch, Matt Jacobs of IH Manchester was approached by the Witton Albion reserve team manager to go in on trial. Matt, 22 from the US has come on the IH Manchester programme to progress his football career, knowing that age is against him and to get a foot into non – league soccer in the UK would be a great start. So this is a chance matt has to take to try to get on the books of the non – league side and see if he can make his way up from there.
Matt will start his first training session on Thursday 6th November with the side.
Good luck Matt!
Lawrence Trials With Accrington!
Following on from the fixture against Accrington Stanley this week, and being watch by the Edukick staff and Accrington Stanley Head of recruitment over the initial few weeks of the programme, Lawrence Hanna has been invited to Accrington Stanley to train with the academy team. Head of recruitment Dave Bailey though his passion and commitment over the past few weeks had been great.
Lawrence will go to Accrington in the coming weeks to train with their Academy looking to hopefully progress up to train with the youth side at some stage to showcase his skill.
Well done Lawrence!
Quinn, one of the youngest players on the programme for the 2012 – 2013 season, has secured a trial at Preston North End. Preston, the founder members of the football
league in the UK are close friends of our programme in England, having played many friendlies and kept an eye on several players over the past few years. Quinn is the first player of the 2012 – 2013 season to be recommended to the club and have the opportunity to trial out in the clubs academy. Joining the U16’s day release squad, Quinn will spend the next few wednesdays with the team during their sessions and be put through his paces with the PNE coaches. League one side and one of the
Quinn commented after his first session “it’s a great experience to be able to play with the academy and be able to challenge myself and level myself against these players.”
It’s not everyday a player gets the chance to spend some time at a professional football clubs academy, so what a great opportunity for Quinn to see how the system works in the Uk and the level of the players.
Manchester Football Academy alum, Sam Zimmermann has been selected to represent the country of Liechtenstein at the Under-21 level in the upcoming 2015Euro Cup qualifiers.
Zimmermann has just returned from a training camp with the Liechtenstien Under 21 squad. . The camp was held in Valencia, Spain and was preparation for the upcoming 2015 Euro Cup qualifiers.
Liechtenstein have some tough group opponents in Croatia, Switzerland, Ukraine and Latvia so preparation is key. “The training camp was awesome,” said Zimmermann, “It was a fantastic sports complex with a beautiful Hotel and excellent grass pitches. During the camp as well as daily training sessions we played two games one against F.C. Basel and one against F.C. Gandia. I started in both games and the preparation went well so hopefully I am selected to participate in the qualifying matches.”
Zimmermann believes his development while with the Manchester Football program is key to his current success and progress; “I got much stronger and developed my fitness. My game understanding increased significantly. Living for a whole year in England with a host family developed my character, and I enjoyed getting to play with people from other countries and experience their cultures. The experience made me a better player and a better person.”
At the end of his Year Long program Sam had a successful trial with English Championship side Peterborough United and was offered a contract but decided to return to his home in Switzerland to take up an offer with Swiss side F.C. Emmenbrücke, which allowed him to complete his academic studies. Sam spent a season with F.C. Emmenbrücke before moving on and is currently under contract with SC Kriens Under 21 squad – a professional club that plays in the 3rd division of professional Swiss football.
Below is the Euro Cup 2015 qualifying schedule of matches for Zimmermann’s Under-21 Liechtenstein National Team squad:
June 11, 2013 – Latvia – Liechtenstein
August 13, 2013 – Liechtenstein – Croatia
September , 2013 – Liechtenstein – Switzerland
October 10, 2013 – Croatia – Liechtenstein
November 15, 2013 – Liechtenstein – Latvia
March 5, 2014 – Switzerland – Liechtenstein
June 4, 2014 – Liechtenstein – Ukraine
September 8, 2014 – Ukraine – Liechtenstein
An excellent example of a great success story is Vyankatesh Kharage, who was inspired to open his own academy back home after his experience with us here at inlingua Manchester
Vyankatesh Kharage, from India, attended our Manchester Year Long program 2011/12.
Read his letter to below
“The year I spent at the Manchester Academy was one of my best experiences so far. The state-of-art facilities and the coaches helped me to become the player I am today.
During the academic BTEC Sport science classes I learned a lot about sports and fitness, which I implement in the sessions of my academy.
It was also nice to be recognized for my hard work by staff and to receive the Student of the Year award. It gave me great confidence.
As part of the program I had the opportunity to obtain the English FA level 1 coaching badge, and while doing this I realized I could use the certificate to coach kids back in India.
Nazar, one of our players from the 2009 – 2010 season in England, is now playing professionally in the Ukraine 2nd Division for FC Skala. Nazar, who is a very talented player and showed great skill on the programme during his time here, earning a trial at Preston North End, was always very focused and determined to play football professionally and make the sport his career. Now as a professional footballer back in his home country Nazar commented about his time on the programme at IH Manchester.
“I miss England football is different than here in the Ukraine it is like a religion. After the Manchester programme I felt stronger, more powerful and a more complete footballer”
Nazar is doing well and has been with the 2nd division team in Ukraine and is now part of the first team. They are currently 5th in the division and return from their winter break next week with 10 matches left to try to get at least 3rd place which means promotion to the first division. The last 2 weeks the squad has spent in a training camp in Antalya, Turkey preparing for the second half of the season.
It’s always great to see a past Manchester Football studies programme Player doing well.
Eric Behran’s, the IH Manchester goalkeeper has signed for Championship club Derby County FC. Eric, who has shown potential all season on the Edukick England programme in Manchester first came to the attention of scouts at the Platt lane complex, home of the Manchester City youth academy. During September 2012, his first month on the programme here in Manchester, Eric impressed the goalkeeper coaches of Manchester City that much that they invited him in to train with the clubs academy goalkeepers on a regular basis. In this time Eric received some top class coaching from the city goalkeeper coaches alongside training daily with the IH Manchester team and being our No 1 in matches. over the course of the programme Eric earned himself several opportunities going on trial with Aston Villa, before visiting Derby County FC. Derby straight away took to Eric with head of recruitment Craig Short saying he had come into the team and preformed brilliantly. Eric spend several weeks travelling to Derby to join the team at weekends for matches, which in itself is a great experience for a 16 year old young player. However after a few weeks of discussions Eric has finally been offered a scholarship at the club and has put pen to paper. Eric will join the club in July, after a well deserved break for the summer.