V9 Academy is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

academy co-founded by

Jamie Vardy Jamie Richard Vardy ( Gill; born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains club Leicester City. He will become a free agent on 1 July 2025. After being released by Sheffield Wednesday at ...

with the intention of gaining

non-League Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

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 is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

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, Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and Blair Turgott) 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 broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

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

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

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a 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, Stevenage w ...

in June 2017. Three further players – Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and Blair Turgott – also received professional contracts that summer. Other players from that initial intake also later received professional contracts, including

Elliott Durrell Elliott James Durrell (born 31 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Stamford. He previously played non-league football for A.F.C. Telford United, Rushall Olympic, Hednesford Town, Evesham Unit ...

, Mikel Miller, and Elton Ngwatala. 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 association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back for club Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Born in England, he represents the Antigu ...

. In June 2018 two more graduates – Josh Heaton and

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

– 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 association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

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 Sheffield United. Career Early career McCallum was born in Canterbury, Kent and grew up in the nearby seaside ...

who joined then-

outfit

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

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

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

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 association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

References

External links

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