If you are weighing up a full year of football away from home, the question that matters most is usually not “how much?” but what’s included at a football academy abroad, and what you will pay on top. That is what this article covers: the bill for a year (a full academic year or a term) at a football academy or boarding school. Not the bill for a summer camp or a trial, which has fewer items and a different calendar.
By the end you will know which items are already inside the base price, which ones arrive separately, who charges each of them and at what point in the year they appear. You will not find figures here: amounts change every season, which is why they are not in this article. For the programmes themselves, start with our overview of the international football academies we work with. What does not change is the structure, and understanding it is what prevents surprises.
Table of Contents
What’s included at a football academy abroad: the base price
We start here because this is the part that most changes the sums a family does on its own: much of what looks like an extra is already included. On the year-round academy programmes we offer at Ertheo, the base price includes:
- Daily professional training.
- Competitions at national or international level.
- Accommodation in a residence or with a host family.
- Full board.
- Academic studies.
- Medical insurance.
- Support with the visa application.
- 24/7 support, with tutors, medical care, supervised accommodation and regular contact with the family.
Put another way: full board, the tutor and medical insurance are not separate lines. If a list of costs you have seen elsewhere adds them on top of the programme price, it is counting the same thing twice, and the year looks more expensive than it is.
For the player, this list reads differently: training every day, playing matches and studying in the same place, with meals and a bed taken care of. It is the part of the year that depends on nobody else.
What is paid on top of the programme price
Only a few items sit outside the base price, and one of the payments in this section is not even an extra: the booking deposit is part of the price, paid in advance. It is worth knowing all of them before you book, because they do not arrive at the same time.
The administration fee: charged by the school when the place is confirmed
This is a charge from the school, separate from the programme price, and it is paid when the place is formally confirmed.
Booking deposit and security deposit: two different payments, and only one comes back
This is an easy mix-up, and an understandable one: in the first few months you see two payments with similar names and it feels as if you have paid for the same thing twice. You have not.
- The booking deposit is paid when you book, to secure the place. It is deducted from the total cost of the year: it is part of the price paid early, not money you get back later.
- The security deposit is paid when the programme starts and is returned when it ends. It works like the deposit on a rented flat.
If, when you receive the proposal, it is not clear which payment is which, ask before you pay. It is a normal question and it has a specific answer.
Academic extras: they depend on the study pathway you choose
Studies are included in the base price, but the academic pathway is not the same for everyone. On top of the basic service, extras can be added to suit the student’s needs, and at some schools any of the school’s courses can be combined with a place at the football academy. That extra is charged by the school and appears when the pathway is chosen.
Flights: not included, and not just two of them
Flights are not included, and the family pays the airline directly. What is worth knowing is that this is not a single outbound ticket and a single return: the number of trips depends on the school calendar and on the periods when the residence closes. It depends on the school, so ask before you book and request the calendar for the year rather than an estimate.
The visa: the application support and the fee are not the same thing
Where the destination requires a visa, support with obtaining it is included in the programme, but the visa fee is not: the family pays it to the consulate, and the application is best started two or three months before the year begins.
Insurance: there are three kinds, and only one is included
When someone says “the insurance”, they are almost always mixing up three different things:
- Medical insurance: included in the base price of the year-round programme.
- Travel insurance: separate from the programme. We offer it at Ertheo.
- Cancellation insurance: protects you if your plans change unexpectedly. We also offer it at Ertheo, and it is taken out at the time of booking.
Who charges you for what: the main invoice does not come from Ertheo
This is what turns a list of costs into a bill that makes sense. In the general case, the programme price is invoiced by the academy itself, because the contract is made directly with the chosen school. Our advice on choosing it, and our support throughout the process, comes at no extra cost to you.
| Who charges | What they charge |
|---|---|
| The academy or school | The base price (training, studies, accommodation and board), the administration fee, the booking deposit, the security deposit and the academic extras |
| Ertheo | The short programme beforehand, if you do one, and travel and cancellation insurance. Advice at no extra cost |
| The consulate | The visa fee, where a visa is needed |
| The airline and the bank | The flights, and the exchange rate on each payment |
An honest caveat: this describes the general case. On some programmes invoicing is organised differently, so ask who issues the invoice at the specific school you are considering.
The bill may not be in your currency, and it is paid across the year
Depending on the destination, an academy’s price is in pounds, dollars or euros. And it is not always paid in one go: at the boarding school in England, for example, the programme can be paid in instalments.
Paying in instalments in a currency that is not your own has a consequence few people anticipate: the exchange rate and the bank’s fee apply to every instalment, not just once. No figures are needed to see this; simply ask your bank how it charges for an international transfer before you decide how to pay.
The bill’s calendar: what appears, and when
The season runs from September to June at almost every destination; in Portugal, from August to May. Across that year, the items appear in this order:
| When | What appears |
|---|---|
| The summer before | The short programme to try out the academy, if you do one |
| On booking | The booking deposit (deducted from the total) and, if you want it, cancellation insurance |
| Two or three months before the start | The visa application and its fee, where a visa is needed |
| When the place is confirmed | The administration fee and the security deposit |
| During the year | The rest of the price, in instalments where the programme allows it, and the flights for each trip |
| At the end | The security deposit is returned |
What depends on the school: six questions to ask before you book
Some smaller costs vary from one school to another, and it is best not to assume anything about them either way. We will not tell you they are included or that they are not, because it depends on the school. What helps is knowing what to ask:
- Is the kit included in the price, or does the school charge for it separately?
- Who does the everyday laundry? Some schools take responsibility for it and others do not.
- How is pocket money handled? Students buy their own toiletries, for example; ask how this is paid for and whether there is a limit.
- Are official exam fees part of the academic extras, or charged separately?
- How many times does the residence close during the year? That decides how many flights you will need to buy.
- Who issues the main invoice on this programme?
None of these answers changes the underlying decision, but every one of them changes the real budget for the year, and it is far more reassuring to have them in writing before you pay the deposit.
The cost worth paying first: trying the academy in summer
There is one item that is not on the bill for the year and that many families pay anyway, the summer before: a short programme to check whether the academy is the right one before committing to a full year. It is what many parents prefer to do, and it makes sense for them and for the player alike: the player sees what training and living there is like, and you see how they respond.
If the destination you are considering is England, the natural option is the high-performance international football clinic in England, an intensive week. If you are still deciding where, our summer football camps are a way to try it out without committing to anything yet. Unlike the year itself, this short programme is booked directly with Ertheo.
When what you are buying is the school: the bill for a boarding school
At a boarding school the structure is the same, with the emphasis on studies. The long-term programme has a basic cost that includes academic tuition, football training, accommodation for boarding pupils and board. Each student’s extras are added to that basic service, and the administration fee and security deposit work as described above.
If your family’s priority is for the academic year to be the centre of things, with football alongside it, our football boarding school in England is worth a careful look. And if you want to compare options, we have a guide to the best football boarding schools in the UK.
Where to see the amounts for each item
Once the structure is clear, the numbers read differently: you know what to add, what is deducted and what comes back. The amounts are on each programme’s own page, along with what that destination covers: for example, the prices for our year-round boarding programme in England. If you have questions about any item on the list, the team will clear them up before you book.
