Southampton Football Club is delighted to announce a long-term US club partnership with the Soccer Association of Columbia (SAC).

It is the first partnership of Saints’ Global Partner Club model, and will see the club work closely with SAC, who hail from Maryland, USA, to enhance the education of their coaches and players.

SAC are one of the most established and successful youth football clubs in the USA. The relationship will draw upon the knowledge within Saints’ Football Development and Support Centre to enable the progression of the education of coaches and players at SAC, with the aim of turning their potential into excellence.

The two organisations will work together to create a plan for the long-term development of coaches and players at SAC using Saints’ expertise in technical coaching, athletic performance and sports science. Constant dialogue between the two clubs, as part of the SFC Global Partner Club model, will allow the partnership to develop and progress.

John Ellinger, Technical Director at SAC, and one of the most highly regarded coaches in US Soccer, said: “The Soccer Association of Columbia (SAC) is extremely excited to become an official partner of one of the best player development clubs in the world.

“With Southampton’s rich tradition of developing young superstars like Gareth Bale, SAC welcomes the opportunity to learn from such quality Academy coaching staff.”

Gareth Rogers, Chief Executive Officer at Southampton Football Club, said: “We are delighted to announce SAC as our first official Global Partner Club.

“This partnership is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with a club that shares our core values of enhancing coach and player education and doing things the right way. We look forward to working with SAC and adding further clubs to the Saints family in the future.”

The SFC Global Partner Club model offers the opportunity for clubs to work with Saints and learn from a world-renowned player development academy. The club’s main focus for the model is the education and development of strong coaching programmes for player development across the world. Partner clubs will value a long-term relationship that helps coaches and players turn their potential into excellence, whatever their goal.

For further information contact Global Development Manager Matt Sanger; [email protected].