V9 Academy is an English

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 ...

academy co-founded by

Jamie Vardy Jamie Richard Vardy (''né'' Gill; born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Leicester City. Regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, Vardy is known for his prolific goalscoring aided ...

with the intention of gaining

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

players contracts at professional clubs.

History

The V9 Academy was founded, in 2016, by professional player

and his agent John Morris after they felt that "too few professional clubs look hard enough in non-league football". Vardy invested £100,000 into the venture. Vardy had played in non-league football for a number of years before turning professional, eventually winning the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and representing England at international level. For the first intake in 2017 there were thousands of applicants. In the summer of 2017 the academy invited 42 applicants to attend a week-long trial in Manchester, from which four players (

Danny Newton Daniel James Newton (born 18 March 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for National League North club Brackley Town. Newton began his career at Hinckley United, where he broke into the first team in 2010 and sp ...

, Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and

Blair Turgott Blair Sebastian Turgott (born 22 May 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for BK Häcken. He has previously played for West Ham United and Coventry City and has had loan spells with Bradford City, Colchester United, Rotherha ...

) received professional contracts. There were scouts present from 65 professional clubs. It was the subject of a

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

documentary series in September 2017. There was a second intake of 42 players in June 2018, which was also the subject of a

documentary.

Graduates

was the first graduate who was awarded a professional contract after signing for

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

in June 2017. Three further players – Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and

– also received professional contracts that summer. Other players from that initial intake also later received professional contracts, including Elliott Durrell, Mikel Miller, and

Elton Ngwatala Elton Ngwatala (born 23 May 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for French club AC Cambrai. Career Born in Corbeil-Essonnes, Ngwatala spent his early career with Beauvais II, Beauvais, Chambly and Kidderminster H ...

. There was a second intake of players in 2018, the first of which was

Luther Wildin Luther Ash James-Wildin (born 3 December 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Stevenage. Born in England, he represents the Antigua and Barbuda national team. James-Wildin joined Notts County's academy in 201 ...

. In June 2018 two more graduates –

Josh Heaton Joshua Heaton (born 16 September 1996), formerly known as Josh Sampson, is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Australian club Mornington SC. He began his career with Preston North End, but never appeared for their first team, an ...

and

Cody Cooke Cody Cooke (born 2 March 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bath City. Early and personal life Born in Truro, Cooke attended Penryn College. Career Cooke began his career in English non-league football with ...

– were awarded professional contracts by Scottish club St Mirren. Later that month Ben Stephens and

Andy Dales Andrew Dales (born 13 November 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays for Mickleover as a winger. Club career Born in Derby, Dales spent 10 years with the youth team of Derby County after joining at the age of 9. He was offered a ...

, both graduates of the 2018 intake, signed for

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

teams. The most notable graduate of the V9 Academy is

Sam McCallum Sam Benjamin McCallum (born 2 September 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL Championship club Norwich City. Career Early career McCallum was born in Canterbury, Kent and grew up in the nearby seaside tow ...

who joined then-

outfit

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

in January 2020 for a reported fee of £3,500,000 from

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

after breaking into the Coventry first team and making a total of 35 appearances and scoring three goals over two seasons with Coventry. McCallum has since spent another loan spell back with Coventry in the Championship, and also

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.v9academy.co.uk Football academies in England 2016 establishments in England Association football clubs established in 2016