A new top-class soccer academy is now open in Shanghai. Representing the first of its kind in Shanghai, the Ebbe Sand Soccer Academy is located in the districts of Pudong and Puxi. The academy is already collaborating with a Chinese NGO and Chinese coaches and hopes to form partnerships with Chinese football clubs.
The academy aims at attracting both Chinese and foreign children and young adults and wishes to be recognized as an international soccer academy. The academy provides training facilities as well as grass fields and a synthetic grass field, which is a fairly new phenomenon in Shanghai.
In collaboration with the NGO Sport For All (SFA), the academy has hired five Chinese coaches who, as a part of their education, will go through a eight month long paid trainee program at the academy in order to become full-time coaches. The academy aims to be able to offer the coaches a job at the academy or secure them a place somewhere else in the football business when the trainee program is over.
Football creates a better learning environment
As the academy puts a lot of focus on the interplay between school and education, the training will take place in the afternoons, after school, and in weekends. With a focus on team work, discipline, respect for others and learning to take responsibility, the academy aims to provide the players with attributes that can be used on as well as off the football field.
The academy is owned by Ebbe Sand. Ebbe Sand is a retired Danish football player, most notably known for having played 66 matches for the Danish national team and 281 matches for the German Bundesliga club Schalke 04.
The director and head coach is Mads Davidsen. Mads Davidsen is a UEFA certificated coach from the Danish Football Association.
