Talented footballers from the University of Lincoln will be put through their paces next season as the University men’s and women’s first XIs will be selected, managed and trained by professionals from Lincoln City Football Club in a unique new coaching agreement connecting academic study and sport.
From pre-season trials and training to post-match analysis, the Imps’ Academy specialists will support the student footballers with every element of their campaign in a new performance coaching programme.
The University of Lincoln, the University of Lincoln Students’ Union and Lincoln City FC have signed a new agreement to further advance their close collaboration. Head coaches from Lincoln City Academy and Lincoln City Women specialising in identifying and developing talented young players will work with University teams so they can compete with the best in their sporting class in national British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) competition.
A performance analyst, physio and support staff will complete the line-up of professional input.Starting from the 2024/25 pre-season, the Imps will help recruit squads via a trials day, designing and delivering first-team training and overseeing touchline decisions on match days of each home fixture. The agreement builds on established links between the University and the Imps. The club employs many University of Lincoln alumni while players and coaches benefit from access to University facilities and expertise through a variety of collaborations in teaching and research.
The agreement also includes the long-standing UniImps scheme which enables university students and staff to purchase discounted matchday tickets to City’s home matches.
The University will continue as the club's away and third kit shirt sponsor for the 2024/25 season.
Mark Holmes, commercial director of the University of Lincoln said: “The University is delighted to be furthering our partnership with Lincoln City Football Club and for them to deliver a professional performance coaching programme for our Men’s and Women’s first teams.
“This is a unique partnership which offers talented footballers the benefit of a professional training programme from an EFL club with opportunities for students to play football at a high level whilst studying at the University of Lincoln.
“Several of our former students have progressed their careers in sports at the football club and we hope this partnership will also provide further opportunities for students who study with us in Lincoln.”
James Brooks, group chief executive officer of Lincoln Students’ Union said: "Lincoln Students' Union is thrilled to be part of the collaboration with Lincoln City FC. This is a complete game-changer for our talented student footballers. Not only does it enhance our football programme, but it also provides our students with an invaluable opportunity to experience professional-level coaching and support.
“It is amazing to give our students this opportunity, and we hope in the future we will offer similar opportunities for our other sports teams.
“We are excited to see our teams thrive under the expert guidance of the Imps’ Academy and look forward to a successful season ahead.”
Jez George, City’s director of football, said: “We have worked with the University of Lincoln over a number of different areas for quite a significant amount of time and it's a natural fit to expand the football side. We've run a pilot over the past 12 months and I'm really pleased to take that into a fully fledged partnership encompassing the men's and women's teams.
“Attracting talented young people to the city to come to the city through the university is always beneficial and it's a potential workforce across many areas of the club. We have a number of interns who have come in to placements with the football club who have then gone on to roles with us and are having successful careers - some having moved on to work in the Premier League.”