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Forty-seven full-time jobs have been created in the League of Ireland since the Government began to fund the professionalisation of club academies with an initial €9 million investment over three years. That number represents a 63 per cent return on targeted roles, primarily an academy director and head of coaching, with the FAI anticipating up to 70 positions being filled in 2027. “There are no short cuts here,” said Will Clarke, the FAI’s head of League of Ireland academies. “These are probably going to be the 50 most important football jobs in this country for the next 10 years.” The Government grant allocates €43,500 for the academy director and €38,500 for the head of coaching, although many successful candidates negotiated higher salaries supplemented by the clubs. Clubs that have already filled these positions can use the funding for other roles like academy administrator or conditioning coach. READ MORE Clarke, speaking to the media on Tuesday, noted that two of the 47 jobs were filled by women after just seven female applicants. Many potential women coaches were put off as the current three-year contract lessens the chance of attaining a mortgage. An under-23 development league has been formed to allow clubs like Dundalk, Finn Harps and St Patrick’s Athletic develop a sustainable senior women’s squad. Clarke also highlighted a new partnership with Kitman Labs to create a “football intelligence platform” similar the tech company’s work with Premier League academies and in Major League Soccer. Kitman Labs was formed in 2012 by the former Leinster physio Stephen Smith, who is based in northern California while his chief operating officer is the former Ireland rugby international Kevin McLaughlin. In 2021, the company received $52 million (€45 million) in funding from Guggenheim Investments to bring their external funding to $82 million (€71 million). “For the first time ever, we can properly track a player’s progression as they come into the pathway and exit,” Clarke explained. Kitman will guide clubs through the roll out of the platform with academy staff eventually able to see where their squads rank across a range of areas without gaining access to the data of individual players from other clubs. A twice yearly national athletic development benchmark will also be established to assess the 2,400 boys and 400 girls currently in League of Ireland academies. “The information will be fed into a centralised data base that allows us to make better decisions around player development,” said Clarke. “This is needed because, at the moment, the Irish academy system has a bias towards physically mature [teenagers] like Evan Ferguson, Mason Melia, Michael Noonan and even Madison McGuane on the girls’ side. “We don’t have the information to make more informed decision about players and their potential.” Jack Moylan, the recently capped 24-year-old midfielder who just signed a four-year deal with Cardiff City, is an example of a player who was released by Bohemians as a teenager before the former Shelbourne manager Damien Duff rediscovered him at Wexford. “Too many people look at the here and now,” said Clarke. “Jack Moylan was, physically, very small as a kid. Now I mean very small. Malahide did a good job pushing him along and then he went to Bohs. He is making a good career for himself [at Cardiff] now. We want to make sure we don’t miss out on any more Jack Moylan’s.” Last year, before the funding commenced, an independent assessment of League of Ireland academies ranked them between 92nd and 96th from 100 nations.