''Football Icon'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

television programme shown on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. The programme gives young, unsigned football players between the ages of 16 and 18 a chance to win a contract with the then Premiership champions,

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Thousands of players who entered were whittled down to fourteen finalists, all of whom were put to the test at their Cobham

training ground A training ground is an area where professional association football teams prepare for matches, with activities primarily concentrating on skills and fitness. They also sometimes form part of a club's youth system, as clubs consider it important t ...

. The players were eliminated week by week until only the final three remained, when then-manager

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

and his staff selected a winner.

Series 1

The first series began in October 2005, and 5,000 young footballers across the UK took part. The series was won by Chelsea fan Jaimie Ashley, who was attending Forest School in Horsham, England. After five seasons in the youth team at Stamford Bridge, Ashley left the Blues in the close season of 2011. He has gone on to play for semi-professional teams,

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

Series 2

The eventual winner was Carl Magnay. The series also included striker Moses Ademola.

References

External links

* Sky UK original programming 2000s British reality television series 2000s British sports television series 2005 British television series debuts 2006 British television series endings Association football reality television series Chelsea F.C. USL League Two Premier League on television {{UK-reality-tv-prog-stub