Evaluating contract attainment and international representation of players from the Scottish Football Association...

The utility of sports schools have been advocated in supporting young athletes towards sporting success. Yet, a centrally driven soccer talent development system within an educational environment is a novel concept. The aim of this study was to evaluate professional contract attainment and international representation of players from a national performance school programme in soccer. A total of 604 players who had attended one of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) performance schools were identified for this investigation. Success of players receiving a first-team professional contract, and/or representing Scotland internationally at age group or senior level was evaluated. The majority (n = 338; 56.0%) of SFA performance school players were successful in achieving a professional contract following graduation from their respective school, and a total of n = 165 (27.3%) were capped for at least one age group for a Scottish national team. Attainment of professional contracts and international caps remained consistent when considering year of entry or when comparing between the seven SFA performance schools. Our findings support the concept of a centrally managed sport school talent development programme as an effective approach in supporting successful career attainment and international representation in youth soccer.