Costs and Cost Recovery

COSTS – PHASE 1
To start, the initial application fee is €200. That gets you started in the process. As soon as 4 participants are confirmed with their application fee, you will pay €800, which is the balance of the downpayment, and book your place. This must be done AT LEAST 6 weeks prior to departure. If we have to cancel this trip prior to the 4^th participant’s confirmation, you will get back everything. Once we have received the 4^th completed downpayment, the amount is transferred to Italy and the €1000 cannot be refunded.

When you get to this step, we will be sure that you will get the invitation to a Club in Italy. Which Club that is, and at what level, we will not know yet.

If you need a visa or any release from school for the 2-week observations, we will ask you to arrange asap.  As soon as the visa and permissions are ready, no later one month before your departure, you will pay €2500, which is 50% of the balance, and we will work with you to book your ticket, which you also will pay for.

About a week before departure, you will pay the balance of €2500. At each step of the way, we will only accept the money when we are sure that everything will proceed.

So you will go for two weeks, which we call Phase 1. The total cost for Phase 1 is approximately €6000 and pays for everything in the 2 weeks except your airfare. (We always exclude airfare from our fees as you will buy direct from the airline or internet agent to get the best possible deal. We can assist you in buying the ticket, with a small additional charge for administration.)  The amount you pay includes all of your training costs, food, lodging and the biggest component is all of the permissions/paperwork that has to be done. You will not be attending an independent soccer school for this 2 weeks, but you will be going to an FIGC Club. This is not easy to arrange without having the specific contacts.

SUMMARY – PHASE 1 Fees (not including airfare or insurance)

PHASE 2

After 2 weeks in Italy for the observations, you will return to your home country and we will discuss with your parents about whether they agree for you to go. When they agree, they will enter into a contract with the agent to make it happen.

Once you get to Phase 2, having accepted the invitation, it usually takes up to 4-6 weeks to cycle through the initial paperwork (depending on the Italian Embassy and other government departments) and get you on the flight returning to Italy. You will arrive in Italy as an amateur player and play either in the youth sector or with the first squad (depending on age and ability) of a Club in the Promozione League, in the Eccelenza League or in Serie D.

For making this happen, the agent receives €8000 for the first year, and will assist with/arrange:

• school (application is additional €400 for the A Level/year 13 school)
• National Service deferment, if applicable
• Student visa, requiring that you have health insurance which is acceptable to the Italy Embassy.
• We will need to collect €1500 for the agent who arranges the residence permit and
• If you are not yet 18, you also need a legal guardian whose cost is estimated at €2500 per year (if you will be 18 before the full year is completed, there may be a reduction in fee). 

When it is time to get on the plane, so you need a ticket.  When you arrive in Italy for Phase 2, you will need to pay for transport to the place (we can help you arrange it). The up-to-year-13/A-level school will cost you €420/month, which includes lunch, or €400 without lunch – there are 10 months in a school year. (If you qualify for University, these costs could be 50% less, but you may not have the option of paying monthly.) And you will have to pay the cost of accommodation, which is estimated at €900/month, including 3 meals.

It sounds like a lot of money but this is about the same that a young European player will pay to his Club over the long period of his membership, and far less than other programs which do not guarantee residence and a placement/registration with a federation Club.

The difference in costs with a local-based regular member of a federation Club in Italy is that a local player normally starts paying fees to the Club at age 5 or 6 years, and you have not paid these fees which support the Club. We have arranged it so that you are, in effect, buying into the Club. Additionally, you are not a citizen and therefore there are restrictions and additional regulations which apply. These Clubs need new blood, new players, and can accept non-EU citizens, but they dont know how to find players who fit their needs or characteristics.

We work with 35+ Clubs and will find the right one for you. They will take some time to train you, maybe 6 months, maybe as long as a full season. Once you are 18, have your resident status, and are good enough that a semi-pro or pro Club wants you, the game changes. Our agent will negotiate the best deal for you, recovering as much of the initial and recurring costs, which you have paid, as is possible.

At every level, when you have enough experience playing European-style football in the leagues, the Club will sell you on. When your initial Club sells you on as a pro, then the new Club pays for everything and our agent handles it all for you.  In our process, everyone wants you to go pro as soon as possible because everyone makes money (based on FIFA regulations) – you, the agent, the originating Club, everyone involved in getting you started.

Once you say you are ready for Phase 2, the total fee is about €9500 which is for agents’ fees (€8000 mentioned above) and the preparation of the residence permit (€1500). If you are under 18 and require a “Legal Tutor” (Italian law requires this), there can be a charge of at least €2500 for the legal fees and the Tutor’s fees. Other than this, you will have to pay, direct to the providers, for accommodation, food and transport and other out of pocket expenses, estimated at €900-1000/month, plus pocket money. And if you go to school, up to A Levels/13th year, it will cost you €4000/10 months (€400 payable monthly) and University costs €2000/year (some application fees may apply).  You do not have to pay the Club for which you play. (If you remain on amateur-status for more than 1 year, an agent’s fee of €3000 will apply for these subsequent years, along with small fees related to other services required – for example renewal of residence status.)

First year would be, in total, about €22,500-25,000. For any subsequent years as an amateur, the annual cost would decrease to €18,000 (plus €2500 if you are still under 18 years of age.

Compare these to the fees of the academies found in Spain or in other countries which cost at least €35,000 and up to €42,000 per year, and they give no guarantee that a Club will invite you or register you to play for them.  In our program, since you will pay most costs directly to suppliers, they are spread on a monthly basis rather than paid upfront in a huge sum (which probably also includes profit for the middleman?).

For additional comparison purposes, there is a program running a 6 week “camp” for €5000 and another with a weekly cost of €1000-1500, but neither give any guarantee of placement. And they run their programs in the UK, where immigration regulations for young players are very strict, and most players would not be able to fulfill them. The only possibility to go to the UK is to attend school there, but it would still be very unlikely for a Club under the FA to grant you registration in their program.

In our program, the whole point is that, at about half of the costs of the others, we also guarantee that a federation Club will register you, and you will be supported by a professional Agent, with his contacts throughout Italy and into Europe, even during your initial amateur period. We also have a network of agents and consultants working throughout Europe on whom we call when necessary.