The British Council and Premier League brought their hugely successful international coaching programme, Premier Skills, to Singapore for the first time and will ran three community football development programmes alongside the Barclays Asia Trophy (BAT) in collaboration with Sports SG, Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and the Asian Football Confederation’s campaign for child nutrition One Goal.
Premier Skills is a partnership between the Premier League and the British Council which uses football as a tool to develop a brighter future for young people around the world.
It draws upon the Premier League’s global appeal and expertise in delivering community programmes in the UK, alongside the British Council’s global network, track record of delivery and world class expertise in English.
Since Premier Skills began in 2007, 6,300 coaches and referees have been trained in 25 countries, who in turn have reached nearly one million young people.
Throughout the week 100 Singaporean coaches and referees received expert training from Premier League coaches from Arsenal, Everton, Stoke City and the BAT Tournament Match Officials, giving them the skills and support to develop their own community football projects and to progress as coaches and referees.
A special One Goal module has been developed between World Vision nutritionists and coaches from Stoke City football club. The objective of the module is to be able to teach coaches how to deliver sessions on healthy lifestyles to children.
Premier Skills aligns with FAS grassroots objectives to support and enhance the recently launched ‘Cubs’ Programme, in association with the Ministry of Education. The Cubs programme enables coaches to work with parents and teachers to drive participation in football and improve the quality of primary school sport. The collaborative partnership will also support Sport SG with their key objectives of motivating young people towards healthier lifestyles and providing opportunities to the disadvantaged through their ‘SportsCares’ programme.
Premier Skills will hosted a Community Festival on the evening of Tuesday 14 July which will showcase the work that has been happening on the pitch during the week in the lead up to BAT. All 100 coaches and referees from the three courses will came together at the festival to demonstrate key learnings from their training including how to deliver inclusive football coaching sessions and run and officiate a fun and participative community tournament for local young people. They were joined players and coaching staff from Arsenal, Everton, Stoke City and Singapore Select XI such as Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku (feature image).
Premier League Executive Chairman Richard Scudamore said, “At home the Premier League and our clubs have a long-held commitment and reputation for delivering high quality community and education programmes. Given our popularity and success internationally we felt it only right to take this approach to a wider community. Premier Skills has already taken place in 25 countries, developing over 6,300 new coaches and referees all over the world. These coaches have already delivered work that has benefited just under a million young people. I am thrilled to see Premier Skills debuting in Singapore with the new One Goal module.”

Roland Davies, Country Director for British Council Singapore, echoed this sentiment, “Premier Skills provides a unique opportunity for all those involved. In matching the global appeal of the Premier League with the expertise of the British Council in delivering world class education in English, the Premier Skills programme in Singapore provides a platform for those who participate to make a real difference in their communities, particularly in enabling participants to gain skills and knowledge from world-class coaches.”