Emerging Talent

Emerging Talent

The FAI Emerging Talent Programme helps identify and develop talented young players around the country with a view to helping them progress onto the international stage in due course.

As the governing body of a country with no professional underage competition/coaching/development structure there is an obligation to assist in the structured development of young players countrywide for all facets of the game

There is now a structured programme of development, which mirrors best practice in European and World standards, at League, Regional and National level to assist clubs and leagues

Emerging Talent Programme Aims

* To provide emerging talent with the opportunity to train within their own area in a more structured and quality environment
* To provide a higher quantity and quality of players for National and International teams
* To improve the quality of players across all levels of the game countrywide
* To identify, develop, monitor and evaluate players in the Under 11-15 age groups
* To enable emerging talent to develop all of their capacities to their potential
* ​To provide emerging talent with a more challenging level of training and development

The Pathway will now be:

League Centres (Born 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Regional Emerging Talent Block training (Born in 2010) Centres of Excellence (Born in 2009)
30 Schoolboy leagues 10 centres (one group per centre) 10 centres (one group per centre)
Training weekly 8 blocks of 2 days 27 training nights & 7 matches
National Academy (Players born 2008 to March 2022: Players born 2009 to March 2023: Players born 2010 begin September 2022 to March 2024)
1 National Centre
23 events per age cycle
Area Venue
Athlone Athlone Town Stadium (Centre of Excellence and Regional Block)
Carlow Ballon FC, Carlow (Centre of Excellence)
Castlebar Solar 21 Park (Centre of Excellence and Regional Block)
Cavan Kingscourt Harps (Centre of Excellence)
Cork Carrigaline United (Regional Block)
Cork Douglas Hall FC (Centre of Excellence)
Donegal Ballyare (Centre of Excellence)
Donegal Letterkenny Community Centre (Regional Block)
Galway Mervue United (Centre of Excellence and Regional Block)
Limerick University of Limerick (Centre of Excellence and Regional Block)
Meath MDL Grounds, Navan (Regional Block)
Waterford Waterford IT (Centre of Excellence and Regional Block)
Wexford Bunclody AFC (Regional Block)