Academy – About Us

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Mission Statement

To provide elite football coaching of a professional standard to young players with ambition of progressing in the game with Dover Athletic, or other senior clubs, along with a structured academic / vocational educational programme that meets their learning needs.

How the Academy Operates

What is an Academy?

An opportunity to be coached and train full time with a National League Football Academy, whilst studying for A Levels of your choice. This will give you opportunities to develop academically as well as a Footballer and is the closest you will get to an apprenticeship at a Professional club.

Key points
  • Comprehensive technical syllabus, covering all aspects of the game
  • Qualified coaching Staff to UEFA A standard
  • Games programme linked to the Football National Youth League
  • Opportunities to be scouted by professional Football Clubs
  • Games programme in the National Youth Alliance which is the highest league outside professional Football
  • A Pathway to our first team Dover Athletic in the National League
What can I study?
  • Anything you like from the courses in your available blocks (this means your studies will not interfere with your training)
  • Level 2/3 in fitness instruction and personal training
  • Please visit HERE for course information

The Football Club

Dover Athletic F.C. - Wikipedia

Dover Athletic Football Club is an association football team based in the town of Dover, Kent, England, who play in the National League.

The club was formed in 1983 after the dissolution of the town’s previous club, Dover, whose place in the Southern League was taken by the new club. In the 1989/90 season, Dover Athletic won the Southern League championship but failed to gain promotion to the Football Conference as the club’s ground did not meet the required standard. Three seasons later the team won this title again and this time gained promotion to the Conference, where they spent nine seasons before being relegated. In April 2008, the club won the championship of Division One South and with it promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division. The following season Dover won the Premier League title and gained promotion to Conference South.

Dover were then promoted to the National League after beating Ebbsfleet in the play off final during the 2013/14 season. They were then in touching distance of the Football League, falling at the playoff stage in the 2015/16 season.

The team usually wear white shirts and are consequently nicknamed the Whites. They have played at the Crabble Stadium since the club’s formation. The club’s best performance in the FA Cup was an appearance in the third round proper where we faced Huddersfield Town and Crystal Palace in 2011 and 2015, respectively, while the best performance registered in the FA Trophy, the national competition for higher-level non-league clubs, was a run to the semi-finals in the 1997/98 season.

Sean Raggett an Academy graduate, now plys his trade in the football league.  

Teams

Dover Athletic runs many teams in several categories, with the First Team being the most senior of them all. Dover Athletics’ youth set-up includes teams ranging from U12s to U18’s.

In addition, the Academy replaced the old Reserve side. The U18 and Academy management work closely with Mitch Brundle and his management team, to provide a route for players that are good enough, to reach the very top of the Dover Athletic ‘tree’.

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