The first activity focused on improving the training and development of 16-18 yr old (male) apprentice footballers whilst they are undertaking the Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (ASE) programme at professional Football League clubs throughout England and Wales.The second activity focused on 18/19 yr old apprentice footballers (male) who have recently graduated (within 12 months) from the ASE programme and who were RELEASED (i.e. not offered a professional football contract of employment) upon graduation from the ASE programme by the professional Football League clubs throughout England and Wales they were training with. A series of interlinking issues and factors underpin the above areas of focus and activity. Crucially, each year 60% (390) of ASE graduates DO NOT receive a professional contract upon immediate completion of the programme. Of the 40% (260) that get a contract immediately only HALF (130), will secure a second contract the following year. This means that each year 520 young players (18/19 years old) are removed from the game, many of whom will have been striving to achieve a career in it since the age of 8. Alongside this there continues to be a large inward migration of players to the UK from Europe and coupled with mediocre national level performances/results there is strong evidence indicating that young home grown players are underdeveloped and overlooked for older more experienced overseas players. The contextual observations and evidence above highlight a number of structural issues in the game as a whole but specifically call for a need to change and improve at the youth/developmental level. Some of these structural issues are being addressed by the recent creation and introduction (2013/14 season) of the Elite Player Performance Plan. This is the new blueprint for football development and within its array of stipulations around how to successfully resource and implement a philosophy of football development, it specifically recognises exposure to football within Europe as an intrinsic aid to that development process. ACTIVITY 1 This is aimed at apprentices currently undertaking ASE and had the following participant level objectives: 1. To achieve both quantitative and qualitative improvements in the development of the participants as footballers 2. To improve the knowledge and understanding of Lifelong Learning principles within Apprentices 3. To improve the knowledge and understanding of the European opportunities in football and other careers 4. To deliver a high quality social and cultural programme including exposure to the language within the host country 5. To ascertain if participants are more willing to travel to Europe to take advantage of the opportunities as a result of the trip 6. To achieve migration from England/Wales to Europe as a footballer and/or in alternative career paths in August 2015 and beyond In order to address these aims and provide added value to the participants LFE delivered a two week pre-season training programme in The Netherlands for four Football League under 18 Academy teams, Bury, Crewe Alexandra, Millwall and Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves). In total 72 apprentices and 16 accompanying persons benefited from this experience. Clubs were hosted by four top tier Dutch clubs, ADO Den Haag, NAC Breda, RKC Waalwijk and VVV Venlo. ACTIVITY 2 This is aimed at RELEASED apprentices who have recently graduated from the ASE programme. These individuals are trying to establish themselves in the labour market, seeking to broaden their horizons and career direction. The participant objectives 1 to 4 are the same as those in Activity 1. Participant objective 5 is as follows: 5. To achieve a professional football contract at a European club and/or as an employee/trainee in Europe in an alternative career In this instance the aims and added value were addressed by an individual 3 month player placement programme at one of five host clubs in Sweden, Ange, BK Sport, IFK Holmsund, Gottne and Ytterhogdals. 29 individuals took part in this opportunity. The main activities undertaken across the two projects were: 1. Daily Training Schedule 2. Competitive Games Schedule 3. Daily/Weekly Log 4. Social and Cultural programme All of which were personalised to the participant and the particular host via an overall planning/training matrix document. We have seen the acquisition of new knowledge and skills by the participants as footballers, the introduction of new training techniques and philosophies adopted into English/Welsh development programmes. Greater openness to as well as increased migration of participants from UK into Europe, better engagement between clubs across Europe as well as huge personal development in behaviour and attitude acquisition of the participants.