Premier Skills is a partnership between the Premier League and the British Council, which uses football as a tool to engage with and develop the skills of young people. The programme concentrates on three main areas: Face-to-face training for coaches and referees, using highly skilled coaches and referee trainers from the Premier League and its clubs. The participants are then supported in developing their own community-focused football projects; Linking community projects run by Premier League clubs to similar projects in other countries, building long-term partnerships that aim to change the lives of thousands of people; It generates English language products for teachers and learners, including face-to-face training for teachers, school resources and digital content via a dedicated website;

Premier Skills has already achieved huge impact under the first stage of the programme. It has run in 22 centres, across 15 countries around the world. It has trained 1,000 coaches, reached nearly 300,000 young people, with over one million football-focused English language materials distributed globally.

Premier Skills is inclusive, engaging young people, including disaffected youth, to develop life skills, coach skills and English language skills, through the medium of community-focused football.

Using football-based content and the British Council’s world class expertise in English, a range of materials including a dedicated website, have been created for teachers and learners of English, complementing the British Council’s wider global offer in English.

Through the programme, prospective young coaches and referees are receiving expert training that helps the long term health of the game in that country.