The Academy

For the last 20 years, Ambassadors Football has run the Academy Training programme with over 60 individuals from 10 different nations to effectively share Jesus through football. Many of these have used the academy as a launchpad into careers in the sports industry, full time church ministry, sports ministry as well as joining ambassadors full time.

The programme is designed to develop you in 3 areas:

Discipleship: You will be challenged to go deeper and grow stronger in your faith; with your placement church, as a group of trainees and with the staff team.

Evangelism: You will learn how to effectively share your faith through football; in weekly sessions, camps, tournaments and other contexts.

Leadership: You will gain leadership qualities as you earn football coaching qualifications; learning how to run sessions, lead different age groups and share your football skills.

Check out Alex’s story of how the internship made a difference in his life in the videos below:

Testimonials

“My year with Ambassadors gave me the opportunity to use my love of football to share the word of God. It helped me grow both as a Christian and as an individual. The internship was a great look into the world of sports missions and how God can use sport to reach people.”
Ex-trainee Helena, Health Mentor

“The internship has given me the opportunity to explore, train and learn how football can effectively be used to serve communities and transform lives whilst also enabling me to grow in my own personal walk with God”
Ex-trainee James Yielder, Youth Worker

How The Academy Works

You will be placed alongside a staff member and work with a church that already has football outreach programmes. You will help deliver these sessions in a variety of different settings. These could range from children & youth football, to our marginalised football projects. You will be able to play and coach as well as mentor different members of the groups. You will build relationships with participants over the course of the academy as well as assisting one-off events such as camps and tournaments.

Every week you will also meet the other trainees online. We run Ambassadors Football Training, designed specifically for our trainees, which facilitates conversation and develops skills through discussions and podcasts. This is then put into practice during our weekly events and activities. You will be given specific training for football ministry ideas at camps, regular sessions, tournaments and church outreach projects. Additionally, you will learn how to share Jesus with different people groups in various cultures and settings.

All of our projects support local church outreach, so it is really important that throughout the year you are part of a church. You will be placed in a local church where you will meet members of the congregation and serve in different areas. These opportunities would be church specific, but recently our trainees have helped with children and youth groups, got involved in worship teams, served in cafes, mentored players, led services and supported bible study groups.

Academy Year Breakdown

September: Bootcamp Training – in person – lots of things that will help you as you plan and prepare for the year ahead, meeting staff and trainees

October – December: Settling in and developing understanding of sports ministry, our roles within it and how to have a healthy balance of ministry, football and other life activities

January – March: Sessions that will help you think practically about how to run events, activities, preparing you to share your story and how to work with different people and cultures. Including an in-person retreat with all the staff, and a mid-season training giving practical skills.

April to June: Getting more involved in camps, tournaments and other events. Giving you opportunities to plan, run and evaluate events in real time alongside members of staff. You will be given more responsibility and independence in leading sessions and activities.

Academy Information

Dates: September 1st 2025 to 30th June 2026 (possibility of helping with US and UK camps in July and August 2026, not included in the price).

Possible Locations: London, Cardiff, Morecambe (but not exclusively)

Ministry Cost: £2600. This covers the Ambassadors expenses for the year that includes training costs, FA qualifications, uniform and travel expenses. (Further costs may be incurred by overseas applications).

We hope to place you with a church who will help with accommodation. You will need to support other living costs.

Ambassadors Football is dependent on partners and churches who support individuals spiritually and financially to make our work sustainable as we share Jesus through football. We call this Ministry Partner Development.

Before and during the academy year we provide training to be able to help you build a team around you. You can set up a Stewardship account where you will receive donations personally that will cover your personal and ministry costs with us.

However, we don’t want finances to be a barrier to application so please contact us using the details below if you would like to discuss this further.

UK Coaching Tour: At the end of your training year you will have the opportunity to take part in a coaching tour of the UK. During the tour you coach at camps with other international coaches. It is an amazing experience!

How To Apply

For further information, if you’d like to apply, or if you have any questions please contact Claire on [email protected] – applications are closed for September 2025!