TFA UAE: Nurturing the region’s next generation of football stars

Dubai: For the past decade, The Football Academy (TFA) UAE has helped nurture the next generation of football talent in Dubai.

While football academies have become more common across the region in recent times, TFA’s approach remains unique.

In Gulf News’ new Dubai’s Local Game series, TFA founder Ali El Jishi explains the philosophy behind the academy, where game intelligence is prioritised from the very beginning.

“I came to Dubai in 2012 after finishing my playing career in England and when I saw the football scene here, I didn’t see enough pathways for young players,” explained Jishi.

“At the time there was around 50 football academies but the majority of them focused on just the junior football, very rarely did they focus on the more senior game.

“We decided to go the opposite direction, we started from Under-18s and worked our way down and it’s been very successful.”

Since its formation in 2016, TFA has grown from initially focusing on older age groups into a comprehensive football development programme catering to players aged three to 18.

Over the years, the academy has expanded its offering to provide tailored programmes for all age groups and abilities, creating a clear pathway for young players at every stage of their development.

“We operate football in 14 nurseries across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah where we select the players for our academy,” said Jishi.

“From this point they go into our Elite Boots programme which is for Under 5’s, then we have Tech Lab which is for Under 12’s, where we work only on technical football, then we go into the senior football.”

For a football academy to thrive, specialist coaching must sit at the heart of its philosophy.

Beyond technical ability, young players require guidance in tactical understanding, decision-making, physical development and mentality in order to reach their full potential.

Jishi went on to explain the three clear principles every coach must follow to be part of TFA.

He said: “For me there’s three criteria’s, the number one is you need to be a teacher, it's not all about football knowledge, you need to have the skills to teach a whole variety of players.

“Number two and very important for TFA is care, and then the third is of course football knowledge.”

Dubai is one of the world’s most diverse cities, bringing together people and cultures from across the globe, and at TFA that diversity is reflected throughout the academy.

Players from a wide range of nationalities and backgrounds train together, creating an environment built on inclusion, respect and a shared passion for football.

Jishi goes on to say the recent challenging period in Dubai has highlighted just how deeply the expatriate community cares about the city, with many families continuing to invest in grassroots sport and community development despite difficult circumstances.

“These recent hard times shows you how everybody values Dubai, and it’s not just for the Emiratis,” he said.

“That diversity is why we love Dubai and one of the biggest things I love about TFA is even though I’m British, it’s never been a British academy, it’s a Dubai academy.”

TFA has a proven track record of developing top young talent, with several players going on to pursue careers in football and proudly represent the UAE at national level.

Their success is a reflection of the academy’s strong reputation within the local football scene and highlights TFA’s ongoing commitment to developing the next generation of players in the country.

“We have one boy who was with us from Under-10 and he went on to play for Arsenal,” stated the founder.

“The technical director of the UAE national team asked me if we have any players that can play for the country and one of them was Jayden Adetiba.

“Jayden now plays for Ipswich, and he was nationalised and played in the last Under-17 World Cup for the UAE.”

Jishi went on to discuss where he believes TFA can continue to grow in the coming years, highlighting the rapid rise of girls’ football both in the UAE and across the wider region.

With increasing participation, greater visibility and more opportunities emerging within the women’s game, Jishi sees huge potential for TFA to further expand its programmes and create stronger pathways for young female players.

“As simple as it sounds we want to just keep teaching people how to play football, and then of course there is girls.

“Some of our best players currently are girls, in everyone of our programmes you will see girls playing but we’d love to boost that participation and it’s something we have been working on.”