Bob Higgins, a former youth coach at Southampton, has been charged with 65 counts of non-recent sexual abuse against boys and is due in court this month.

Higgins, 64, will appear at West Hampshire magistrates court in Southampton on 20 July to face allegations relating to 23 complainants. All the alleged offences are understood to be indecent assault.

Higgins was a coach in Southampton’s junior system in the 1980s and worked as Peterborough United’s youth-team manager from May 1995 to April 1996 as well as running his own soccer school. He was still involved in football, working with adults at Fleet Town, when the police investigation began last year.

“Detectives have charged a man in connection with an investigation into non-recent child abuse within the footballing community,” Hampshire police said in a statement. “These offences relate to allegations involving teenage boys and are alleged to have happened in the 1980s and 1990s. There is a total of 23 alleged victims.”