Caledonian Braves Football Club is a Scottish semi-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...

. They are members of the

Lowland Football League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the ...

, in the fifth tier of the

Scottish football league system The Scottish football league system is a series of generally connected leagues for Scottish football clubs. The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'gra ...

. The club originated from Edusport Academy, a residential

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

for French footballers founded in 2011 and initially based at the

Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility The Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility is a public leisure centre that is located in the Ravenscraig area of Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. History The sports facility first came to attention when plans were being drawn up to for ...

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

, North Lanarkshire, before relocating to

Lesser Hampden Lesser Hampden is a football stadium in Mount Florida, Glasgow, Scotland, which is located immediately beside the western end of Hampden Park stadium. History In 1923, Queen's Park were looking for an alternative venue for their reserves and y ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 2015. A second centre based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

opened in 2014. From the 2014–15 season onwards, they fielded a team under the Edusport Academy name in Scottish senior football, the only private academy to do so in a recognised senior league. They initially played in the South of Scotland League before winning promotion to the Lowland League in 2017. As Edusport, the senior team played at the Hamilton Palace Sports Ground in

Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and nort ...

(2014–2015) and

Galabank Galabank is a football stadium in the town of Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Annan Athletic, who have played there since 1953. The ground has been shared by non-Leagu ...

Annan, Dumfries and Galloway Annan ( ; gd, Inbhir Anainn) is a town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Historically part of Dumfriesshire, its public buildings include Annan Academy, of which the writer Thomas Carlyle was a pupil, and ...

(2015–2019). From 2018 onwards, the senior team began to operate separately from the academy after launching a membership scheme, Our Football Club. In 2019 they were rebranded as Caledonian Braves and opened their own Alliance Park ground within

Strathclyde Country Park Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located on the outskirts of Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, named after the former Strathclyde region of Scotland. It is often commonly referred to as Strathclyde, or simply Strathy. De ...

in North Lanarkshire.

History

Academy

The Edusport Academy was founded in 2011 by Chris Ewing with the aim of helping talented young French footballers to develop their skills in football and the English language, and gain opportunities with British professional clubs. Initially, the main training venues were the

, North Lanarkshire, and the Hamilton Palace Sports Ground in

, with English classes taking place at

New College Lanarkshire New College Lanarkshire is a further education institution in Scotland in North Lanarkshire. The college was created in November 2013 from the merger of Cumbernauld College and Motherwell College, and in 2014 it absorbed Coatbridge College. It ...

. Edusport expanded in 2014, opening an Edinburgh centre with training at

Ainslie Park Ainslie Park is a football stadium located in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Lowland Football League club Spartans and the club's women's team in the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL). In addition, Scottish Professional ...

and education at Edinburgh College. In 2015, they decided to relocate from Motherwell to a new

base; the Academy now trains at

with educational classes at

City of Glasgow College The City of Glasgow College (Scottish Gaelic: ''Colaiste Baile Glaschu'') is a further and higher education college in the city of Glasgow. It was founded in 2010 when the Central College, Glasgow Metropolitan College, and the Glasgow Colle ...

. Four women were added to the Edusport Academy programme in 2015. They are based at the Edinburgh centre and will gain senior experience through a partnership with

Spartans Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...

of the

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football League ...

Senior football

In June 2014, Edusport Academy successfully applied for membership of the semi-professional South of Scotland League in the sixth tier of the

, becoming the first private football academy in the world to operate a team in a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

-recognised senior league. They made further Scottish football history in a league match against

Creetown Creetown (, sometimes ) is a small seaside town in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway in the Dumfries and Galloway council area in south-west Scotland. Its population is about 750 people. It is situated near the head of Wigtown Bay, we ...

in September 2014, when they first fielded a team composed entirely of French nationals. The senior team won two trophies in their first season, the South of Scotland League Cup and the Cree Lodge Cup. They applied to move up a level to the

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

in 2015, but their application was rejected. Edusport Academy won the 2016–17 South of Scotland League title to gain promotion to the Lowland League in the fifth tier of Scottish football. In February 2018, Ewing announced plans to separate the senior team from the academy and attract a fanbase by launching a new online membership scheme, Our Football Club. Members will have voting and decision-making powers, including a say on choosing a new name, crest and colours for the team. They will be able to recommend potential signings, but will have no say on team selection. Ewing stated at the launch of the project that his aim was to reach the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

by 2025. At the start of the 2019–20 season Edusport Academy rebranded the club as the Caledonian Braves following a vote online by members of the Our Football Club.com project.

Stadium

For the first season, South of Scotland League home matches were played at the Hamilton Palace Sports Ground in

. From 2015 onwards, the team groundshared with Annan Athletic at their

stadium in

. From the start of the 2019–20 Lowland League season, the team play at Alliance Park, their own purpose-built facility at

Bothwellhaugh Bothwellhaugh was a Scottish coal mining village housing Hamilton Palace Colliery workers and their families. Locals referred to the village as The Pailis. It was located near to the towns of Motherwell, Bellshill and Hamilton in Lanarksh ...

near

, North Lanarkshire. The name of the ground, which was voted for by more than 90% of Our Football Club members, was chosen to reflect the unity between the French and Scottish elements of the club.

Current squad

As of 29 January 2022

Academy staff

''As of 29 October 2021''

Season-by-season records

Lowland League

† Season curtailed due to coronavirus pandemic

Honours

* South of Scotland League **Winners: 2016–17 *South of Scotland League Cup **Winners (2): 2014–15, 2015–16 *Cree Lodge Cup **Winners: 2014–15 *Haig Gordon Cup **Winners: 2018–19 *Tweedie Cup **Winners: 2015–16

Affliated club(s)

* Travancore Royals FC (2021- )

References

External links

*
Edusport Academy website

Our Football Club website
{{Lowland League South of Scotland Football League teams Football clubs in Dumfries and Galloway Sport in Motherwell Football in North Lanarkshire 2011 establishments in Scotland Lowland Football League teams Association football clubs established in 2011