Charlton Overseas
Who would have thought, nigh on 100 years ago, that when the roots of Charlton Athletic were put down in a corner of South-East London, a century later the Addicks would branch out across the world?
It shows just how far the club has come since 1905 when today you hear tales of Charlton shirts being worn in South Africa, or that a football academy emblazoned with the famous Addicks logo is being planned for China.
While being able to compete with the likes of Manchester United or Liverpool for fan numbers across the globe is some way off, Charlton have very quickly taken large strides - quite literally - across the world in a bid to spread the name of the club and, in return, unearth and nurture new talent.
The club's overseas projects have developed rapidly thanks to lots of hard work behind the scenes at The Valley.
Chief executive Peter Varney explained: "The overseas broadcasting contracts are worth a significant sum of money to all 20 Premiership clubs and while the league is still growing in popularity across the globe, we must take nothing for granted.
"We have a responsibility to give something back to those countries thatsupport us so well financially.
"What we are building at Charlton is something that will last and will engage us with the communities in those countries where we are developing academies, soccer schools and other initiatives."
In November 2005 the club appointed the hugely respected Les Reed, who was first-team coach when the Addicks were first promoted to the Premiership in 1998 and was later technical director at the Football Association, to oversee the club's growing links across the globe in a consultancy role.
Reed managed the establishment of the club's worldwide academies and soccer schools, and the introduction of coaching development plans, sports science techniques and diet and nutrition arrangements as the Addicks started to implement the various aspects of the international agreements.
After six months in that role Reed became assistant head coach alongside Iain Dowie and was named head coach of the Addicks in November the same year as events developed rapidly on the first-team front, before stepping down from that role just before Christmas.
There was also big news for the project in mid-December 2006 when the entire programme was rebranded to give it a stronger Addicks identity across the world. Each initiative will now be known by the name of the country in which it is based, such as CAFC Soccer Espana in Spain.
Added Varney: "The rebranding initiative is part of our developing international strategy, and the intention is to make our programmes more consistent and more visible."
This section of the official website details all of the club's overseas projects, provides a link to the official websites of our partners, and will be updated as Charlton Athletic continue to spread their wings across the world.
SPAIN
Charlton's work in Spain, originally called the Charlton Athletic European Soccer School, was officially launched by Addicks first-team manager Alan Curbishley in May 2004.
The school was established the previous September, with its first centres being established in Pilar de Horadada and Nerja.
And less than a year later, Addicks coaches had seen thousands of youngsters, with further centres opening right the way along the Costa Blanca.
Soccer Espana runs courses for boys and girls between the ages of six and 16, and the school is being run along the same lines as the award-winning Charlton Football in the Community scheme.
The school has also forged official links with a number of local clubs such as UD Horadada, UD San Pedro, Torrox Faro and Real Murcia and in October 2005 Curbishley returned to Spain to launch a new partnership between the soccer school and a Malaga-based language school.
The language project received the support of Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy in August 2006 when he dropped into a coaching session being run by Soccer Espana, and two youngsters spotted during a coaching course came across to England to train under the eye of academy manager Steve Gritt the following month.
Indeed, such has been the progress of the Spanish set-up, Charlton's work in the country has not only received substantial backing from club sponsor Llanera and kit manuacturer Joma - both Spanish companies - the Addicks also signed a collaboration deal with Primera Liga giants Valencia in August 2006.
Said Varney: "All three organisations are keen to work with us to implement community programmes in the Murcia, Malaga and Valencia regions, and eventually there will be a Charlton football centre at every major housing development Llanera is planning to build."
Read more about Charlton's collaboration agreement with Valencia here.
Read more about Charlton's partnership with the EDSE Idiomas language school in Malaga at www.edufootball.com.
Further details about CAFC Soccer Espana can also be found here.
Contact: David Greene
Telephone: 00 34 966 786 729
Email: europeansoccerschool@msn.com
FINLAND
Charlton fought off interest from a number of Premiership and European clubs to sign Finland U16 international Jani Tanska, after striking a four-year collaboration agreement with Finnish Cup winners MyPa 47 FC.
The Addicks entered into an arrangement with MyPa - full name Myllykosken Pallo 47 - in November 2004 to organise player and youth coach exchanges between the two clubs as part of CAFC Soccer Finland, with Tanska's transfer kicking it off.
Charlton have first option on any other promising players developed by the Finnish side, which won the Finnish Cup in 2004 and the Veikkausliiga (Finnish top flight) the following year.
There will also be mutual training camps at academy level and MyPa are keen to learn from the Addicks' award-winning community work, and set up similar projects in Finland.
Find out more about MyPa at their official website www.mypa.fi.
CHINA
The arrival of China captain Zheng Zhi, a national icon in his homeland, in December 2006 propelled Charlton's work in the country, under the CAFC Soccer China banner, to another level.
The midfielder-cum-defender, named China Footballer of the Year in 2003 and 2006, joined the Addicks on loan from Chinese league champions Shandong Luneng for the rest of the 2006/07 season, with a view to a permanent move.
And the Addicks are also discussions with Zheng's former club regarding the establishment of a high-profile state-of-the-art youth academy in the country.
Under the CAFC Soccer China banner, it is hoped the deal will enhance the reputation of the Premiership club across the country and the Far East.
Charlton, who travelled to China for a two-match tour in summer 2004 , initially joined forces with Chinese Super League club Shanghai United (previously known as Shanghai Zobon) in July 2005. A five-year agreement was signed, but the deal ran into complications when the franchise was subsequently sold.
Shandong Luneng, who play in the 45,000-seat capacity Shandong Stadium in Jinan, lifted the Chinese league championship in 2006. They are owned by the biggest supplier of electrical energy in the Shandong province.
Read more about the Addicks' deal for Zheng here, or visit Shandong Luneng's official website (in Chinese) here.
BELGIUM:
Belgian side Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen became the fourth overseas club to sign a collaboration deal with Charlton in November 2005.
The CAFC Soccer Belgium agreement with the then Belgian Cup holders will again focus primarily on youth players, with the Jupiler league offering several advantages to the English side.
"The Belgian league is ideal for players not quite ready for the challenge of the English Premiership, and enables players to obtain a sound grounding in professional football of a high standard," said Varney.
A Belgian government delegation spent two days in England at the end of October 2005 and visited The Valley for the Premiership match against Bolton Wanderers, officials of Germinal Beerschot having already been to The Valley earlier in the month.
Read more about Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen and their link up with Charlton here, or visit their official website (no English translation) at www.germinal-beerschot.com.
IVORY COAST:
Yet to be fully officially launched although discussions are nearing conclusion, the CAFC Soccer Ivory Coast set-up will feature a collaboration deal with ASEC Mimosas, the leading team in the country.
Products of ASEC's youth academy form the backbone of the national team, which qualified for the 2006 World Cup, and include the likes of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Didier Zokora (Tottenham Hotspur) and Bonaventure Kalou (Paris St Germain).
Also known as ASEC Abidjan, the club has won the Ivory Coast league for the last seven consecutive years and, incredibly, 15 times since 1990.
The agreement between the Ivorians and the Addicks will see Charlton receive numerous benefits at youth level.
Indeed, in July 2006 two ASEC Mimosas youngsters travelled to England to train and play at the club under former coach Iain Dowie as part of the initial stage of the link-up.
Visit the official website of ASEC Mimosas (in French) at www.asec.ci.
SOUTH AFRICA:
The CAFC Soccer South Africa operation may not feature a specific link to one established club in the country, but Charlton's community work has already affected thousands of youngsters in both Johannesburg and Cape Town.
It was back in 2002 that the Charlton community scheme started its work in South Africa, with coaches travelling out to the deprived township of Alexandra, near Johannesburg, for a project that also involved British Airways and the Metropolitan Police.
For the next three years the Addicks ran a Football Association Level One coaching course with local police officers, youth workers and similar members in society to enable them to gain coaching qualifications.
This included a visit from former Charlton defender and Bafana Bafana captain Mark Fish, and helped them to use football as a vehicle to get other messages across to youngsters regarding anti-crime, citizenship and health awareness.
In 2006 the idea was proposed by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to extend the initiative to Cape Town, with local professional side Ajax Cape Town also joining the partnership.
Read a report from the CAFC Soccer South Africa project in October 2004 here.
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