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Futebol de Salao - Harrogate Football for children 5-16

From complete beginners to international players, we have a class for you!

Harry and Archie Gray

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0777 621 3740

Welcome to FDS Harrogate

The FDS Harrogate Soccer
School has coached over 5,000
children in the town since 2003.

 

It is our aim to help every child fulfil their potential, whether playing in the playground with friends or going on to play in a World Cup final.


Before any football considerations we aim to help all the children become good young people. We coach boys and girls of all abilities from 5-16 years of age.

Childrens football 5-16 in Harrogate
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for more information

or to book a FREE session...

for more information

or to book a FREE session...

Meet The Coaches

Stuart Owen: Head Coach
I started out as Head of Boys PE in a Secondary School in West Yorkshire.
Whilst teaching I successfully passed the FA UEFA B Coaching Badge and the ICFDS Brazilian Coaching Licences. I spent 2 years coaching for Leeds United before setting up one of Simon Clifford’s Brazilian Soccer Schools in Bradford in 1999.
Moving to Harrogate in 2003 I continued the Brazilian Soccer School before creating a new school, FDS Harrogate in 2014. During my time at Brazilian Soccer Schools I became a National Squad Coach and an International Coach Educator.

Stuart Owen, Football Coach Harrogate FDS

Stuart Owen

Mike Johnson - Football Coach Harrogate

Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson: Head Coach
Teaching the children new techniques and being an FDS coach is a perfect fit for me. I trained at the original Brazilian Soccer School (BSS) in Leeds as a teenager and went on to play for Garforth Town.

I completed my Level 3 gym instructor course before moving on to become a football coach. I successfully passed both the FA and ICFDS Brazilian Coaching courses and have been an FDS and Soccerkidz lead coach since 2011. I also became co-owner of Soccerkidz in 2016.

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FDS Training
Programme

For much of the year we train on small courts meaning thousands more touches of the ball than conventional training and many more tight spaces and tricky situations to get out of.
We teach the children around 200 core skills, turns, moves to beat players and passing techniques using 6 surfaces of both feet. The children also develop an amazing first touch with our ball juggling challenges.

What is Futebol de Salao (FDS)
 

Futebol de Salão is a 5-a-side version of football of South American origin that is played with a smaller (size 2), heavier ball. The game became very popular in Brazil where players such as Pele, Ronaldinho and Neymar were brought up first playing Futebol de Salão before moving on to conventional football.

FDS Juggling Scheme

Through our unique training programme we have seen over 20 of our 5 and 6 year olds reach 100 kick ups. This has been achieved by following our amazing juggling scheme which takes children through progressively harder challenges using different parts of the foot. Many children develop a world class first touch at our classes.


Most of the children start with us on 1 kick up and catch. Through hard work and dedication we have some of the best ball jugglers in the world.

FDS Football Juggling Sheme

FDS player Brandon Thompson (above) performed 5,168 kick ups with a tennis ball.

Joel Fireman
In the early years at the Soccer School my eyes were opened to the incredible achievements that children are capable of when Joel Fireman, in year 2 at the time, performed 1,435 kick ups.
Joel was invited to perform at Manchester United in front of 76,000 people (above) and in front of the cameras at the Masters football in Sheffield (below).
Joel’s incredible performances led to several TV appearances: Look North, Sky Sports, By invitation Only, BBC News CBBC and Help Teach is Coming To Stay!

TV apprearence for Joel at Masters of Football

Stuart Owen

Stuart Owen

Brandon Thompson

Joel Fireman FDS Harrogate

Joel Fireman

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Here is a demonstration by

one of our young

FDS players

Here is a demonstration by

one of our young

FDS players

From Grassroots to
Professional Clubs

From Grassroots to Professional Football Teams - FDS

FDS Harrogate welcomes children from all grassroots teams. Every player born 2003/4 from Pannal Sports lions joined the Soccer School. The results were staggering:

  • 6 junior internationals.

  • 20 of the boys went on to join professional academies.

Over the years we have been asked to take many of our players to play against professional academies including: Manchester City, Leeds, Newcastle, Burnley, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford and Oldham. Having excellent relationships with professional clubs allows us to recommend players to professional academies at the right time for the child.


FDS Harrogate players were invited for a tour of the Ethiad training complex before playing a match against Manchester City's academy (below).

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Academy Players and Junior Professionals from FDS Harrogate

From FDS Harrogate to the Premier League

Archie Gray trained at FDS Harrogate from the age of 4 to 13. He is now a Premier League and England Player.

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Children that attend our FDS Harrogate classes make huge gains in their footballing ability and go on to become excellent footballers. We are very proud of the fact that we have never selected any players on ability and many of our players that have joined professional academies came to us as complete beginners. FDS players have represented Great Britain, England, Poland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Kosovo. We look forward to many more players going on to play for their country in the future.

500+

200+

18

children have been offered trials with professional clubs


children have been successful in joining a professional academy


FDS players have represented their country

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Our Partners

Soccerkidz


Soccerkidz is a fantastic, early years play programme designed for walkers to school age children, with classes running throughout the week The children have the opportunity to move from Soccerkidz to the FDS Harrogate Soccer School classes at around 5 years of age.

Integer Football


Simon Clifford has been helping elite players from FDS Harrogate since 2013 and many of our players are involved in the Integer Football Programme. Integer is a holistic elite programme aimed at young players from U6 to U23. Simon is currently mentoring several Premier League and International players.

integer football training harrogate
Soccerkidz
Happy children playing football in harrogate

Leeds United


Since 2003 over a hundred of our players have been asked to trial for Leeds United Football club with 39 gaining a place in their academy teams including 6 that have played for their first team. We have developed excellent relationships with all professional clubs, but it seemed only natural to form a partnership with our closest top flight club. We are very much looking forward to working together with this great club and are delighted that they wanted to partner with us.

Harrogate footballer playing for Leeds United
Leeds United with Stuart outside the grounds

Robbie Gotts making his Leeds United debut at the Emirates

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for more information

or to book a FREE session...

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World Class

At FDS we encourage the children to follow their dreams and take on the world. We have several FDS graduates that are doing just that.

Rebecca Hugill: Freestyler


Rebecca, came along to her first football training session aged 8 with a best score of 3 kick ups.

After 1 year of training her best score was over 3,000 kick ups. She is now a World Class Football Freestyler.

In November 2021 she was crowned World Youth Football Freestyle Champion.

Click here to see Rebecca performing at Harrogate Town FC (opens in a new window)

Rebecca Hugill Freestyl footballer Champion Harrogate

Luke Richardson: Strongman


After several years at the Soccer School, Luke became British Powerlifting Champion, before moving onto
Strongman competitions. In 2020 aged 23 he became the youngest winner of Europe's Strongest Man and reached the final of World's Strongest Man at his first attempt.

Luke Richardson Strongman a former FDS soccer school player
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for more information

or to book a FREE session...

for more information

or to book a FREE session...

George Mills: 2024 Olympic Finalist


George came to the Soccer School for nearly 10 years and was an excellent footballer. In his teens his attention turned to athletics. In 2020 he became the Men's British 1500m Champion. George is now an Olympic 1500m semi-finalist and 5000m finalist, having participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

George Mills Birtish 1500m CHampion 2020 was a former FDS student Harrogate
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Jamie Johnson FC


FDS Harrogate has provided over 50 players for the brilliant BBC drama 'Jamie Johnson FC', including Gabe Holt, who plays one of the lead roles (Andrew Finch) in the show.

“I love FDS, I am getting so much better than my friends”
FDS Player Aged 7

"The training at FDS is perfect for children to develop into fantastic footballers and become good people"
Parent and former Leeds, Manchester City and England player Danny Mills


“The coaches are amazing with the children and have given my child so much confidence both on and off the football pitch. I can’t thank them enough"
Parent of FDS player aged 8

“I highly recommend FDS Harrogate, all four of my boys have attended the classes and I see it as an important part of my children’s all round football development and education”
Parent and former Scottish international Andy Gray


“My team have been transformed and are now starting to win lots more matches by playing fast, skilful football"
Parent and Grassroots Under 12's Coach in Harrogate

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