A former footballer has created a website which is aimed at helping young players gain trials with professional football clubs.
Alex Koritsas, an English-American, says he created his business, UK Football Contacts, to help aspiring players after his own experiences in the game.
He said: “I was born in Washington D.C. and I played in various academies and went through the recruiting process in that country.
“I dropped out of college when I was 18 because it was my dream to make it as a pro in the UK.“
Koritsas said that despite initially not having an agent or contacts, he was able to obtain trials at a number of different clubs.
He said: “I realised when I moved to England that I was good at finding contacts at football clubs.
“I went on to play non-league football with Kettering, I played for a team in Spain for about four months and also had a trial at Brentford FC, all through my ability to obtain good contacts.”
Koritsas started UK Football Contacts eleven months ago, after failing to secure a contract at a team for the season. Based in Brentford, West London, it has now helped over 500 players.
He signed for league two club Crawley Town, but then the pandemic hit, and he was released at the end of the 2019/20 season. With no club and no agent, Koritsas decided to set up the company to help others in the situation he found himself in.
Koritsas said that there are a lot of players who are good enough to make it as a professional whom the service have helped.
He said: “We now have over 11,000 followers on Instagram, and players contact us when they believe they are good enough, and they know that we have the contacts to help them.”
The service that is provided by the company has already produced results, with contacts from the top four leagues in England, as well as Major league soccer and the USL championship in America, the A-league in Australia, Serie A in Italy and the Eredivisie in The Netherlands.
One player who has been helped by the service is Seyifunmi Rotimi, a player who was able obtain a trial at Fulham FC, despite not having an agent. He says that UK football contacts were extremely helpful in finding him opportunities.
He said: “They were very helpful, I knew nothing about football networking before I approached them, and they gave me a platform to allow me to gain exposure and gave me the tools to approach professional clubs for a chance to trial.”
He went on to say: “it was through their service that I got the trial at Fulham. I was on trial with them for two weeks, The trial at Fulham wouldn’t have happened without them, I am grateful for their help.”
Koritsas said the services his company offers to players who decide to use them include email templates to send to clubs of their choice.
“We usually advise players to aim for a league 1 or 2 club, as this will give them the best chance of getting a reply and a chance to trial,” he said.
