The Male Football Academy

The Male Football Academy is now recruiting student athletes for the next academic year. Apply online now.

All candidates for the Male Football Academy must be on a full-time course at SGS College. We offer academic opportunities for vocational/BTEC qualifications, A-Levels and Degree Courses.

The SGS Male Football Programme is based around "Hunger and Belief". The players train full time with professional intensity and quality. The SGS model prides itself on being the best of its kind in the country along with having the best facilities.

Candidates must be over 16 years of age from the start date of their chosen course. For more information please contact The Director of Football at david.hockaday@sgscol.ac.uk.

Higher Education Football BUCS Team

The SGS Male Football Academy has an exclusive Higher Education offer to be part of our BUCS league team. Visit our webpage to view University course on offer at SGS https://www.sgscol.ac.uk/study/uni

The Programme Includes:

  • 12 hours of elite football training per week
  • Individualised development player 1-1s
  • Player performance profiling
  • Video analysis
  • Team and Individual Strength and Conditioning programmes
  • Fixtures against top level academy professional clubs
  • Elite professional coaching dedicated to player development and team performance

Success Stories

9 players have signed for professional clubs in the last 5 years.

  • Rendijs Kelnins (Forest Green Rovers)
  • Dan McBeam (Barnsley)
  • Tom Harrison (Bristol City)
  • Saiko Janneh (Bristol City)
  • Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City)
  • Luke Spokes (Grimsby Town)
  • Kacper Lopata (Brighton and Hove Albion)
  • Miguel Freckleton (Sheffield United)
  • Jai Semenyo (Cardiff City)

Many more of our players are currently being monitored by pro clubs.

Every season we have players selected for the National ECFA Team.

Academy Achievements

Our Football Academy has twice been awarded BFPWE in the country by the FA. In 2016 we became the first ever College Football Academy to produce 6 England Internationals in 1 year (3 representing the ESFA and 3 for the ECFA).

In 2021 SGS won the ECFA Cat 1 South West League for the third year in the row. In the last 6 years we have won the South West Counties Youth League (U18) 4 times and finished 2nd the other two. In the last two years we have progressed to the first round of the FA Youth cup, eventually being knocked out by Plymouth Argyle and Swindon Town respectively playing as Mangotsfield United U18s. In 2019 the SGS Football Academy became the very first College to win both the National ECFA Premier Cup and the National ECFA Knockout Competition in the same season.

We also have a team that plays in the ECFA Category 2 League (South West).

We regularly play professional Football Clubs during preseason with an incredible success rate.

The SGS HE team play in the BUCS League system in division 4A. SGS Higher Education Male Football Academy have been crowned BUCS League Champions in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

We now play in BUCS 3A, having been League Champions for 4 consecutive years.

In 2022-23 we won our ECFA Cat 1 Regional League Championship for the 4th consecutive year. We then went on to be crowned ECFA National College Champions for the 2nd time in 3 years.

The Coaching Team

David Hockaday - Head Coach

David is an experienced Coach specialising in identifying, recruiting and developing young talent, helping players to fulfil their potential.

  • English UEFA A License.
  • Played professional football for 20 years with over 650 senior appearances and 5 promotions (Blackpool, Swindon Town, Hull City, Stoke City and Shrewsbury Town.).
  • Coached at U18, Reserve/U23 and First Team levels, working at top level professional clubs Watford, Southampton, Leeds Utd, Coventry City, MK Dons and Forest Green Rovers.

Marcus Thatcher - Assistant Coach

Marcus has a great work ethic and an excellent eye for detail in matches, helping young players to improve their match understanding/management.

  • English FA B License.
  • Marcus is a successful product of the SGS Male Football Programme having represented the England Colleges FA National Team.
  • Marcus has played Non-League Football to a high standard and has many links at local level to help get the SGS players placed with Senior Teams in the area.
  • We have strong links with Bath City, Mangotsfield United and Stoke Gifford United.

Sam Naylor - Goalkeeping Coach

Sam is an excellent technical Coach, helping our young GKs improve on their basics.

  • UEFA B Licence Outfield Qualification, BSc in Sports Coaching.

How to Apply

If you are looking to join our College Academy on a full-time Level 1-3 course on either a BTEC or A-Level program then please apply online for the course you want below.

Degree Program and UCAS

If it is our degree program you are interested in then please click below to see the full list of courses we offer. Then for help with applying through UCAS please email Bev Awre (bev.awre@sgscol.ac.uk).

University Courses