Football Academies in Spain 2025

A high performance academy is a boarding school for soccer players who have the potential to become professional soccer players. For younger students (13 – 18), they combine a demanding football training program with the equivalent of a secondary education. They also help prepare older students (18 and older) to enter universities or join the work force as they train at a professional level.
High performance academies are the best boarding school football academies for serious soccer players. Students at high performance academies live, train, and study during the scholastic year and receive personalized advice and guidance about their best options for pursuing their dream to become professional soccer players.

Students attend high performance soccer academies with the objective of becoming professional soccer players without neglecting their education. Football academies in Spain and coaches at these academies have access and connections to coaches and official football clubs in La Liga, which, according to UEFA, has been the top league in Europe over the last five years.
Successful professional players like Keylor Navas, goalkeeper of Real Madrid, have passed through these soccer academies and signed contracts with first division teams.
Would you like to study and train at the same football academy as Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas?Click below to learn more about the high performance soccer academy in Barcelona.
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Both football academies in Spain accept students from around 13 to 21 years old (secondary school and university students) and provide a variety of courses and education options to cater to various ages, academic levels and objectives.Age 13 – 16 (up to 18 years old)
Soccer players can join these high performance academies and continue their secondary education at the academies through distance online learning or by attending a private secondary school with other academy students and other students in the area.
*Younger students can even stay at high performance academies for many years completing almost all of their secondary education while they prepare to become professional soccer players.
Age 16 and over
At the high performance academy in Barcelona, students 16 years or older (with a high school diploma) can take an intermediate level coaching course or a 200 hour coaching mentor course while they learn from and train with some of the best coaches in the world.
At the high performance academy in Valencia, students 16 years or older can choose from a variety of course options including: football coaching, sports nutrition, creation of sports related apps, software course for football coaches, and introduction to sports management.Age 18 and over
Students at both football academies in Spain can continue their university studies through distance education with tutors provided by the academies.
The high performance academy in Valencia offers SAT (U.S. university entrance exam) preparation courses for students interested in attending a university in the United States.Click below to learn more about SAT courses at the soccer academy in Valencia.
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The soccer schools in Spain work hard to cater to the needs of all their international students taking into account cultural and linguistic differences. Some international students may need to apply for a student visa to attend the academy, but the process is fairly easy and applications are usually accepted.

Both soccer schools in Spain are flexible and offer academic programs for a variety of ages and levels which can be adapted to the curriculum in the students’ home countries. Moreover, students who don’t want to join the Spanish education system can continue their education with their original school through online distance education. Many students choose this option, and the academies provide personal tutors to help the students complete their studies.

Studying in Spain provides foreign students with a great opportunity to learn one of the world’s most dominant languages, Spanish. Both soccer academies in Spain are extremely flexible and provide education options for students of all Spanish levels. In fact, both football academies in Spain even offer Spanish language courses for non-native speakers.
Students with a low level of Spanish can choose to continue their education through distance education or online learning. In such cases, the academies provide personal tutors for the students that do speak the students’ native languages.
Training at the academies is carried out in Spanish with the objective that students learn Spanish while they train. Coaches and monitors do speak English, however, and will use English to explain concepts if the players don’t understand. Nevertheless, non-Spanish speaking students usually don’t experience much hardship since coaches are aware that many students don’t speak Spanish and use a lot of non-verbal language to compensate for linguistic differences among students.
Attending a high performance soccer academy is the perfect opportunity to learn Spanish in an international environment where communication among students from different cultures and linguistic backgrounds is encouraged.
Lastly, these high performance soccer academies in Spain foster an international learning environment and encourage communication among students from different cultures. Students often communicate with each other in their second languages during their time at the academies. This not only greatly improves their second language skills, but also creates a special bond between classmates and teammates as they learn to understand each other and accept their cultural differences.

During the week, students follow a tight schedule, balancing classes, training, and rest. Depending on the educational program that a student chooses, they’ll either train in the morning and take classes in the afternoon, or train in the afternoon and attend classes in the morning.
The soccer schools do organize matches and tournaments for students on the weekends. Occasionally, students take a break from matches and tournaments and enjoy weekends dedicated to entertainment, rest, and recreation. On these weekends, monitors accompany the students to nearby cities where they’ll have the chance to experience Spanish culture.
During free time, students have access to study rooms, game rooms, and lounges. Both high performance academies also have swimming pools that students can use for muscle recovery.