25 July 2012 Joint football and English language excellence programme delivered at Lincoln University

The Asia Pacific Football Academy, based on the Lincoln University campus, and the University’s English Language division have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deliver a high quality programme to talented international athletes.

The joint English language and football programme will bring together the teaching/training expertise of the Asia Pacific Football Academy (APFA) with that of Lincoln University.  The football academy is located on the Lincoln University campus in Canterbury and operates in association with Chelsea Football Club in the United Kingdom.  The academy focuses on the intensive development of young players from throughout the world – looking to maximise each individual’s potential, as well as exposing the players to the football world to proactively assist with their playing careers. 

“The MOU that has been signed between our organisations formally joins two like-minded institutions to offer an excellent programme to talented youth,” says Lincoln University’s Vice-Chancellor Dr Andrew West.

“Lincoln University has been working closely with the APFA since they came on campus and the question of how we can deliver our English Language programme to their footballers in a structured and tailored way has formed much of the discussion.  The University is passionate about high-level sport and we have a strong sporting pedigree through our sports conditioning and sports scholarship programmes.  We also have excellent English teaching facilities and staff.  This collaboration is exciting.”

APFA Director, Andy Smith, adds “Many of the talented players we identify when travelling the world do not have English as their first language.  Our job is to give them the intensive football training, nutrition, conditioning and career planning they need to make football their life.  To succeed though English language is a very important part of their time here. The University can offer this through their existing resources, enabling us to work within our areas of expertise while the students still get the English grounding they need.”

Places on the programme will be limited to 20 students at any one time.  The length of the courses on offer can be flexible depending on the needs of the individual student.