2022 marks the opening of the first ever PSG Academy in Wales. Open to boys and girls aged 8 to 15, the PSG Academy Caerphilly offers budding footballers a unique opportunity to learn football and improve their skills in a fun environment. The first ever training camps will start during the Easter holidays.
The Academy will be based in Caerphilly, near Cardiff, at the local St Martin's School. The players will train every day, just like the Parisian players, and will benefit from the world-renowned training methods of Paris Saint-Germain. Off the pitch, they will participate in various courses (nutrition, sleep, athlete hygiene, recovery...) but also in many leisure activities, with their new friends.
Wales becomes the 15th country to host Paris Saint-Germain's world-class football schools. In the medium term, the club aims to open new academies in four key regions across the country. Buoyed by the national team's recent performances, Welsh passion for football is at an all-time high.
The launch of this new Academy highlights the new dimension of the Parisian club, which has captured the hearts of many young fans around the world.
The founder of the Paris Saint-Germain Academy in England, Alex Harrap, said: "We are very proud of the significant development of the Academies in England. We have achieved our goal of providing a serious and comprehensive educational programme to hundreds of young players across the country. This opening in Wales is a new venture. We regularly receive requests to offer PSG experiences in countries neighbouring England. Wales is a country that is passionate about football. We are honoured and excited to offer young Welsh people the opportunity to experience PSG's training methods. After this first step, our goal will be to extend our presence to 4 or 5 other regions of Wales".
Nadia Benmokhtar, international manager of the Paris Saint-Germain Academy, is delighted: "This first camp marks a new stage in our international development: 15 countries now host our programmes. We are particularly proud to see that our Academies are very popular in countries with a strong football culture, such as Wales. The appeal of our brand and our training methods is growing. In our academies, we offer training that combines football and personal development for young people. Our aim is not only to train players, but also to share our technical know-how with local and qualified coaches, who will be the guarantors of the Paris Saint-Germain training methodology. I am confident that we will achieve results that match our ambitions in Wales.
ERA Sports and Education and its CEO Alex Harrap have been successfully running the Paris Saint-Germain Academy in England for the past 8 years. Since then, the Academy has grown significantly across England, with 15 football schools now open in 12 cities, including London, Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, Wolverhampton and Preston. The PSG Academy UK offers a range of programmes, including annual training programmes for the young players of tomorrow, in schools and during holiday camps.
Click here to find out more about the project and register for the first course.