The World Football Academy will be in Montreal

Raymond V

On August 23, the World Football Academy will settle at the Montreal Impact training centre, in collaboration with the Quebec Soccer Federation, for a full day of formation given to coaches from the region.

The WFA, founded first in 2009 under the name of the Dutch Football Academy, is an initiative of Raymond Verheijen. It plays a key role in the independent formation of coaches, staff and soccer players. Victim of its success, the academy is now active in more than 20 countries where it holds formation days every year.


Nicolas Gagnon, Impact U16 head coach, had the chance to take a class with them last December and that’s when the contact was made to evaluate possibilities to come to Montreal and give a full day of formation.


“They take soccer and analyse the way to keep things simple,” said Nicolas Gagnon about his meeting with the WFA. “It’s about being organized in relation with the players, the age and what we do with them. There were many interesting elements. We have to go step by step to prepare the players the best way possible.”


Raymond Verheijen, who started this project, is a leader in football conditioning and has introduced his unique football specific approach successfully throughout the world. Since 1998, he took part in every FIFA World Cup and European championship with different roles.


“We’re talking about someone who had a role in every World Cups and Euros since 1998,” added Gagnon. “It’s also someone who worked in an academy and helps the youth, which is even more important to us in Quebec and Canada than to talk only about what is done at the professional level. And we’re talking about a renowned academy: Feyenoord.”


The formation given by Mr Verheijen will be in English and will focus on three main themes:


  • The principles of football periodization;
  • Short and long term consequences of changing the cut-off date in youth football;
  • The implementation of a football specific philosophy – case study.


Click here for all information to register. Places are limited.