This means we join an exclusive group of leading FA Charter Standard Community Football clubs working with Nike and The Football Association to raise standards in grass roots football, thereby recognising the huge progress we have made over the last 18 months in this area, particularly coaching.

The partnership brings financial support for coaching qualifications and guidance and support to raise the profile and perception of clubs within our community.

Nike, as part of their partnership with the England team and The Football Association, offer the leading clubs in the country a chance to apply for partnerships and Alphington Youth Football Club have now become one of just 230 clubs nationwide.

Nike has recognised the outstanding work that Alphington Youth Football Club do for the development of youth football in Devon and as a result will be able to continue this work as part of this agreement the club will be entitled to coaching bursaries with Devon FA through its partnership with Nike. It will also give the club unrivalled access to a truly global brand and an opportunity to develop young footballers even more.

This partnership will ensure the highest standards are achieved and provide a consistent identity through the club – for example, all Alphington Youth teams will play in a newly designed Nike kit, also as part of the branding and marketing support, we will have an online store linked through our website with our national supplier, Kitlocker. This will give members of the club a facility to buy our won Nike branded kit wear.

This association has been forged as part of the committee’s continued ambitions to develop the club and to align itself with the FA’s DNA pathway, which is designed to instil a standardised coaching strategy to clubs across the country.
Through this, the English FA and Devon FA offer opportunities to work with Nike on this type of project.

Simon Brailey, Chairman of Alphington Youth Football Club, said: "I am absolutely delighted that Alphington Youth FC has reached an agreement to become a Nike Partner Club."
“This partnership is a testament to the work we have been doing both on and off the pitch and we held the belief that it was very important to establish a strong brand identity for our club. So we naturally jumped at the opportunity to work in partnership with such a massive worldwide sports brand like Nike."

“We would like to thank them for their time and effort to agree this four year deal with us, along with Kitlocker, and we are really looking forward to working closely with them both to help us develop and grow our grassroots football club and serve our local community in the future."

Kitlocker & Nike said “Alphington Youth Football Club’s focus on the local community, as well as coaching, developing and education standards of young footballers are what attracted us as a company to work in partnership with Alphington and we feel this partnership with Nike & Kitlocker can only build a better, stronger club going forward.”