Would you like to develop a full-time career helping to change the way football is thought of, trained and promoted in your country by opening a football academy for children and teenagers?

This is your opportunity to enter the Football Sports industry, without having to accept, often unsustainable pay levels and limited career progression. We offer the highest possible quality education and continuous development to all of our franchisees and coaches.

At ICFDS we understand that deciding to start a business is one of the most important and exciting decisions you can make, having a big impact on your life.
When opening a new business, you will face numerous challenges, among which: validating the business idea, managing the financial aspects, big amount of time and resources required.

All of those challenges can be cushioned by buying into our franchise ownership model which provides a proven track of success and ensure your new business will be fully supported from day one.

We intend to make a change in the international football, the good way.

We start in SOCATOTS, where we infuse the youngest children with the love for the beautiful game. Then we continue our mission by inviting kids to Brazilian Soccer Schools. There, the proper football training begins and helps the young football players achieve international success in the future.

How do we reach the goal?

Basing on a famous Brazilian training methodology of indoor soccer – Futebol de Salão, we introduce unrivalled football-inspired childhood development programs and a champion football coaching methodology.

Simply – we will make the best footballers.

The vision we have is clear, so ICFDS strives to become the world’s largest franchising organization of financially thriving and socially responsible partners.

Here, through innovative, football-inspired childhood development programs and a champion football coaching methodology, the best footballers are made.

Our love of the beautiful game empowers even young children and paves the way to international success for them – future football champions.

Futebol de Salão initially acted as a springboard for the international careers of Brazilian football stars, such as Rivelino, Zico, Careca and above all, Juninho. Since the ICFDS exported these methods to the UK in 1996 many more players but also coaches have been positively developed and gone on to have professional careers doing what they love:

• Micah Richards – Former England International;
• John Farnworth – World and European Football Freestyle Championships, holder of 5 Guinness World Records;
• Ryan Fraser – Bournemouth FC, Scotland International;
• Indie Cowie – Guinness World Record holder, Football Freestyler;
• Marlon Fossey – Fulham FC, USA U20 International;
• Abby Towers – Sunderland AFC Ladies, England Ladies;
• Peter Pawlett – Dundee United, Scotland U21 International;
• John Bostock – Toulouse FC;
• Ben Wrigglesworth – ‎European Scout, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC;
• Kristian Wilson – Performance Coach,  OGC Nice;
• Cole Kiernan – Sunderland AFC;
• John Herdman – Head Coach, Canada men’s national soccer team;
• Peter Sturgess – FA National Development Coach;
• Michael Beale – First Team Coach, Rangers FC;
• Aiden White – Heart of Midlothian FC, Republic of Ireland U21.

and many more.

Many prime territories are available

The costs are not set in stone, but rather we calculate the pricing by the volume of population eligible for you to recruit in the region/areas you choose to acquire. We award exclusive and protected territories, meaning no one can operate one of our Franchises in the Territories that you acquire.

Below we have an illustrated world map and general list showing the global reach of our current Socatots & Brazilian Soccer Schools network and the different type of opportunities still available.

There are many qualities that we are looking for in each prospective Franchise applicant which we will set out below, but remember, we are always there to support our Franchise partners once the application process has been completed, and a Franchise awarded.

1. A passion for working with children every day, and having a large part to play in their ongoing development
2. Principles of coach development that match our own philosophies of how children should be educated and developed
3. A thirst for hard work and success
4. A willingness to follow the operations procedure that is recommended by us, and based upon previous success
5. A working knowledge of the English language
6. Experience of building and managing customer relationships

TYPES OF FRANCHISE EXPANSION MODELS

You may begin your journey with ICFDS by choosing one of three pathways, each one requiring a different level of involvement, resources or expertise.

Master Franchise

The larges and the most sought after is the Master Franchise. It is available for those who are not only financially qualified but also business savvy and dream of impacting an entire country.

Your responsibilities will be to:

• expand the subfranchising network across the entire country
• assist in the business development of your franchisees
• maintain the highest level of training within your territory
• promote the brand nationwide

Apart from the obvious benefits, one that stands out is the ability to leave behind a lasting legacy and shape the face of football in your country.

Area Developer

If you dream big, however, your resources are temporarily limited, perhaps you will be interested in taking care of a selected region. Depending on a country you are from this could range from a multimillion metropolitan area to province, county or the state.

Regardless of your choice, your responsibilities will be similar to the one of Master Franchisor. Nevertheless, you will also be encouraged to operate locally and deliver classes as the sub-franchisee.

Sub-Franchisee

If your passion is to coach and experience the smile on children’s faces, look no further and become one of our sub-franchisees.

This option entails a reasonable investment level and does not require a business degree to succeed.

Your goals and responsibilities will be to:

• promote the brand locally
• acquire and maintain clients
• manage venues
• deliver classes

There is no limit to where the sub-franchise can be located, as long as the territory is available and you feel confident to handle the responsibility.

Finally, being present in over a dozen international territories and serving thousands of clients each week, we do understand and appreciate diversity and business culture differences. That is why if you have a valid alternative to how we can cooperate, feel free to mention it to us, and we will be able to create a fully customized approach.

“I don’t want to copy Brazil, that would be pointless, I wanted us to be better”. Simon Clifford

SOCATOTS & Brazilian Soccer Schools have a long and illustrious history dating back to the formation of the latter way back in 1996. This predates majority owner Rupert Lowe’s involvement and below we will explore this story further.

Founder and former owner Simon Clifford’s initial research began in 1989 following a study into youth development in Holland, Spain, France, Italy and England.

Later Simon embarked upon a fact finding mission to Brazil with only a £6,000 loan, which resulted in what we think is a training system that gives committed and hardworking participants the best chance at succeeding as not only professional footballers but well-rounded individuals. The first Brazilian Soccer School was started in 1996, in Leeds. Simon had become friends with the Brazilian star Juninho, which helped lead to the discovery of the game of Futebol de Salão. During his first spell at Middlesborough FC Simon managed to persuade him to come down to the school that he taught at (Corpus Christ in Halton Moor, Leeds) to take part in a health week initiative that the school were running.

Juninho got involved with the football coaching that Simon was running for the school team, enjoyed it but at the end of the session he asked Simon, “When do the children play Futebol de Salão?” At this point Simon had no idea what the game was or its importance in the culture of Brazilian football. Juninho explained that children in Brazil were brought up first playing only with a small, heavy ball with no bounce (Futebol de Salão) before moving on to conventional football in their teenage years. Juninho was astounded that it was not also played in the UK and Simon was fascinated by the explanation of the game. Juninho arranged for some Futebol de Salão balls to be sent over for Simon to use.

The benefits to children’s technique were very easy to see and prompted Simon’s initial trip to Brazil to discover exactly what lay behind Brazil’s historical dominance of world football.

Later, in 2003 Simon developed the Socatots scheme that sees children between the ages of six months and five years taught basic movement and football skills in a pre-school type environment. The idea was conceived after Simon could not find any age appropriate activities for his daughter, Mary whilst she was in the preschool age group.

The next chapter in the history of the organisation came in December 2012 when Rupert Lowe, ex Chairman of Southampton FC and FA Board Member took full control and ownership over from Simon Clifford.

Under the new ownership structure plans are in place to undergo the next stage of expansion and we are very grateful for the continued hard work and support of the current family of franchisees who are helping to transport such a wonderful development product to children across the world.

Not all of us are professional coaches or former football players, but we are all huge fans of the beautiful game. As a team, we intend to make a change in international football, the good way.

Fred Lowe: Managing Director

Fred has been working for SOCATOTS & Brazilian Soccer Schools in one way or another since 2010 when learning from the founder, Simon Clifford. A graduate of Leeds University and FA Level 1 Qualified Coach, he has also spent time at Chelsea FC as a Marketing Intern in addition to the previous experience of voluntary work for Garforth Town FC.

Will Partington – Head Coach, Brazilian Soccer Schools

Will Partington is currently the Director of Socatots & Brazilian Soccer Schools Jersey as well as the Global Head Coach of Brazilian Soccer Schools worldwide.

Having been a long time admirer of founder Simon Clifford’s work Will spent a lot of time and effort tracking Simon down over 10 years ago to find out more about the now proven and highly regarded Brazilian Soccer Schools coaching programme. In the subsequent years, Will made full use of his access to both the coaching syllabus and Simon’s yearly ICFDS coaching courses to ensure that he delivered the coaching syllabus to the best ability he could in his allotted franchise area of Jersey.

Will’s inaugural trip to Brazil was back in the days when he was a full English beach soccer international and spent time playing for the beach soccer teams of Vasco de Gama and Flamengo.

This was the first of what have now become annual research trips to Brazil, with Will now owning his own property in Rio de Janeiro. Over many years Will has immersed himself in the Brazilian culture and developed many friends within the Soccer industry and beyond out in Brazil. He has had trips to meet Jairzinho as well as visit Careca’s soccer school in Sao Paolo. This unrestricted access has continued to the present day where on his last visit he was given a free rein to observe the set-up and coaching infrastructure within the Professional clubs Fluminense and Flamengo. Will even delivered his own even sessions within their youth academies.

This has seen Will continue to build his coaching education and further explore the physical side of the game, combining this with the technique and flexibility displayed by players introduced to specific body and ball movements from a young age. In the midst of this journey, Will has had so far had with Brazilian Soccer Schools he crossed paths with current owner Rupert Lowe when Simon Clifford accepted a job at Southampton FC with Sir Clive Woodward.