Everton’s Asmir Begovic believes there is “huge potential” in Liverpool as he prepares to open his first goalkeeper academy in the city.
The Asmir Begovic Goalkeeping Academy specialises in coaching and educating young goalkeepers with branches in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Heilbronn, Germany; across the UK in Cobham, Basingstoke, Burnley, Hull, Nantwich and now here on Merseyside.
Begovic’s first academy in Liverpool will be based at Leisure United Simpson in Hunt’s Cross and weekly Friday evening sessions start on February 24. The academy focuses on providing young, ambitious, and committed goalkeepers with an environment where they can maximise their individual development.
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Begovic told the ECHO: “It’s been a great journey so far with academies so far and with my brand in general. We’ve expanded regularly each year and ever since I came to Everton I realised there was huge potential in Liverpool.
“The kids have a great passion for football, including for goalkeeping, so it was really cool to finally get it over the line with everything in place to launch an academy at a location in Liverpool so I’m really looking forward to next week.”
While goalkeeping appears to be an inherited trait for 35-year-old Begovic, capped 63 times for Bosnia and Herzegovina and now with over 400 professional matches under his belt, he decided to start helping the next generation come through after he had established himself as a Premier League player. He said: “Before I moved to Canada, I’d been in Germany which is obviously a footballing hotbed but both my dad and granddad were professional goalkeepers so it was natural and almost from the moment I was born I had the gloves on. However, when we got to Edmonton 25 years ago, while there was a bit of football training at school, there wasn’t much goalkeeper coaching.
“There have been dramatic improvements since then but football is the world sport and the more of this kind of stuff we can do, the better because there’s so much that kids want to do and especially with goalkeepers, you can’t train yourself. It’s a great thing to provide.
“I’ve been a goalkeeper my whole life, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do I guess but I started thinking about it seriously about six or seven years ago. It was the time to do it and we said ‘let’s just go for it.’
“It’s worked out really well since and I’ve been blown away by the interest over how it’s gone and the fact that we can still expand with more room to grow all over the UK, Europe and the world eventually as well I hope. It’s a great project and something that’s close to me and my family with goalkeeping being in my blood so it’s a lot of fun to do.
“We want to help kids and develop goalkeepers but even those who have come through the academy and who don’t want to do it professionally as a player can go into the coaching and start doing their qualifications, doing some coaching for us at the academy so we can actually produce a bit of both. More people want to get involved but it’s all about giving them the right opportunities to develop and get into it even more.”
Although Liverpool has produced some of this country’s most-gifted footballers, most of them have tended to be outfield players. You have to go back over half a century to Gordon West’s Bootle-born understudy Andy Rankin, now 78, who made 105 appearances for Everton to find a local goalkeeper who reached double figures in terms of first team games for either of the city’s professional clubs.
Begovic admits that the prospect of one of his academy graduates eventually making it at the Blues would fill him with great satisfaction. He said: “Fingers crossed, that would be amazing.
"It’s really cool to see some of the journeys that some of these kids have been on. We’ve produced a couple of professionals back home in Bosnia who are making a living out of the game and hopefully we can do that in Liverpool and the UK, that’s the ultimate dream for sure, to help give them the kick-start they need in their careers.
“There is a social aspect to it where kids get to have fun with each other and make friends, being active, being healthy and outside. It also teaches you things like discipline and commitment so there are so many factors we’ve seen develop with these youngsters, it’s great to see because it’s as much about their personal development as their goalkeeping development.
“These are traits I learned from very early on to have that discipline and work, the concentration and dedication to your craft, no matter what the circumstances are. They’re not just great football skills but great life skills and I think it translates very well.”
It’s also a new start for Begovic and all his Everton team-mates right now under his third manager in little over 18 months at the club but he insists the Blues squad are under no illusions about the task at hand. He said: “Things have been very positive under Sean Dyche, it’s been a very good two weeks at Finch Farm so far.
“We’ve worked really hard and had a great result against Arsenal but for all that we know there is a lot of work ahead and a lot of games to play with points to play for as we know we’re still in a hole we need to get out of. There’s a lot of work to be done but we’re looking forward to the second half of the season and so far, so good.”
Sessions are open to boys and girls of all abilities from the age of 6 to 16. The focus is on individual work and developing and strengthening fundamental goalkeeping techniques, as well as all the demands of the goalkeeper position. The new season for the Asmir Begovic Liverpool Academy starts on February 24 at Leisure United Simpson, Hillfoot Rd, Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool L25 7UJ.
Training takes place on Fridays between 5-7pm and the price is £15 per session. For more details or to book your child's spot, call 07477 062 701.
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