National team players in NF Academy program
NATIONAL TEAM PLAYERS IN NF ACADEMY
During the last four years, NF Academy has worked with a total of twelve players in their programs that now play in national teams. In this article we tell you where the players who participated in the NF Selection for the first time in 2015 are today and Gonçalo Nunes explains why the program increases the players’ ability to enter the regional and national teams.
The Gold Generation born in 2002
In the summer of 2015, a team with two Swedish, four Danish and twelve Norwegian talented players traveled to Portugal to play against some of the best football teams in Europe with players born in 2002. It was quickly understood that the team had many exciting players with great potential. After a tight loss in the group stage against the Mexican Academy Chivas, the team fought back in the tournament and eventually smashed into a smooth quarter-final against Sporting CP on a penalty shootout.
Four years later, the players Niklas Edris Haugland and Thomas Grevnes Rekdal from Norway have established themselves in the youth national team and signed professional contracts with Leeds United and FSV Mainz 05. Lucas Kåhed from Sweden has been training with Bayern Munich and plays in Sweden’s U17 national team. From Denmark, Oscar Fuglsang also has a permanent place in the Danish national team.
(See the overview of all national team players who have participated in the NF Academy program below)
Increase the probability of playing in regional and national teams
Gonçalo Nunes started his job as academy manager for international programs at the NF Academy in the fall of 2018. Nunes comes from a leadership position for the international field of SL Benfica’s academy, and has been part of the academy which in recent years has received top players such as Bernardo Silva ( Manchester City), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich) and Victor Lindelöf (Manchester United).
Gonçalo Nunes has no doubt that the NF Academy’s tournament initiatives under the name of NF Elite Selection increase the likelihood that talented players will be admitted to regional teams or age-based teams.
Players need to learn how to be confident in a new player group with more nationalities and where the level is normally higher than in the home club. You meet new teams that hold a high international level and have to deal with coaches with a different approach to the game. In other words, we provide learning to make players more adaptable to new environment. It is obvious that if you have these experiences, you are stronger at regional and national withdrawals.
NF Academy is looking for new players
The next stop for NF Elite Selection will be the Nordic Invitational Cup in Esbjerg from July 31st to August 4 th. To this event, we ask players born 2004 to 2006 who are interested in playing in our talented teams to contact us.
National team players who have participated in NF Elite Selection
| Name | Year | National Team and Club |
| Thomas Grevnes Rekdal | 2001 | Norway U18 and FSV Mainz 05 |
| Niklas Edris Haugland | 2002 | Norway U17 and Leeds United |
| Lucas Kåhed | 2002 | Sweden U17 and IFK Gøteborg |
| Oscar Fuglsang | 2002 | Denmark U17 and Silkeborg |
| Fredrik Oppegård | 2002 | Norway U17 and Vålerenga |
| Andreas Haug | 2003 | Norway U15 and Oppsal |
| Odin Holm | 2003 | Norge U16 og Vålerenga |
| Sixten Abrahamsen | 2003 | Norway U16 and Oppsal IL |
| Kristian Fredrik Malt Arnstad | 2003 | Norway U16 and Stabæk |
| Filip Melbin | 2003 | Denmark U16 and AB |
| Dylan Ryan Murugesapillai | 2004 | Norway U15 and Lillestrøm SK |
I’m interested and want to know more
Send us a short message with information about the player’s background and program you are interested in. We will follow you up with more information and if you want, we can set up a quick telephone conference with one of our coaches to provide advice.
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