Celtic Soccer Academy partner with Football Northern Territory in Darwin, Australia | OneFootball

Celtic Soccer Academy is absolutely delighted to announce one of the most unique football development programmes in world football as they enter into a three-year partnership with Football Northern Territory (FNT).

This partnership will see Celtic Soccer Academy work with four community football clubs as part of the newly created Northern Futures Football Programme aimed at increasing the footballing opportunities for all Territorians, with a focus on facilitating development for First Nation’s people, girls, women and refugees.

Our collaborative aim is to deliver first-class football activity for disadvantaged groups by partnering with community football clubs where together we’ll aim to physically, mentally and emotionally develop young people, volunteers, coaches and club administrators.

In order to achieve this aim FNT will employ a Northern Futures Football Programme manager to drive this initiative and help coordinate all of the activity over the next three years with each of the selected clubs.

The four selected clubs are Casuarina FC, Darwin Olympic, Palmerston Rovers and Azzurri United. These clubs were specifically selected due to their history of providing footballing opportunities for disadvantaged youths and their enthusiasm and commitment to create further programmes to support those in need.

The programme kicks off in April with four Celtic coaches travelling out to Darwin to deliver an Easter holiday camp with FNT alongside working with each of the four clubs for two weeks. This trip will help Celtic Soccer Academy build key relationships with each of the clubs and provide us with a greater depth of knowledge of the unique footballing landscape and challenges presented in the Northern Territory.

In addition to this activity each of the clubs will be provided with access to our coaching curriculum, coach education course and coach mentoring programmes and Celtic will host two further coaching camps later in the year. However, the highlight of the programme will be an opportunity for two players from each club to come to Scotland and train in our youth academy as part of our Academy Player Experience programme alongside four coaches who will experience our Academy Coach Experience programme.

The final piece of the programme will hopefully see Celtic coaches head to Timor-Leste in South East Asia to engage with young Timorese people and provide them with the opportunity to participate in free football activity through coaching camps and football festivals.

John Tambouras, Technical Director of Football Northern Territory, said: “Our partnership with Celtic FC is a historic moment for everyone involved in football in the Northern Territory.

!We are hugely excited by the Northern Futures Football Programme and can already envision the positive impact it is going to have in our football community. We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity and would like to thank Celtic FC for making it happen.

"So, on behalf of all in FNT we would like to welcome Celtic FC to Darwin and look forward to learning from and working with one of the biggest clubs in world football.”

Head of Celtic’s Soccer Academy, Chris Smith said: “Having worked in professional football for almost 20 years I can honestly say this is the most exciting and innovative programme I have had the opportunity to be involved in.

"The support we have had from Football Northern Territory to pull this programme together is hugely appreciated and without their joint vision and support it would not have been possible. The potential it has to make a real difference in the community is incredible and something we can’t wait to help drive over the next three years”.

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