Australian Institute of Sport Football Program
 |
|
| Full name | FFA Centre of Excellence |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1981 |
| Ground | Australian Institute of Sport |
| Technical Director | Peter de Roo |
| Head Coach | Tony Vidmar |
| League |
National Youth League National Premier Leagues |
The FFA Centre of Excellence (formerly the Australian Institute of Sport Football Program) is a football talent identification and player development program run by Football Federation Australia (FFA) and is based at the Australian Institute of Sport, in Canberra. The Centre of Excellence runs this program for men: the program was one of the eight founding sports of the AIS in 1981. The FFA announced that the Centre would close at the end of 2017.
The AIS soccer program is funded by the Australian Federal Government, through the Australian Sports Commission. In 2005–2006 this funding amounted to A$1,115,000. Currently, 20 students per year are selected for an initial period of 12 months training and study, with the additional option of a second year. The men's program is residential, while the women's is training camp-based. Students are generally 15–17 years old when selected and the only compulsory requirement is that they have current, or pending, Australian citizenship.
The original stated aim of the men's program was
"To identify and develop players for the national under-20 youth team and to develop coaches through the Scholarship Coaching scheme".
Following the decision of several soccer graduates to represent other countries at a senior national level (e.g. Josip Simunic), the AIS implemented contracts whereby the cost of the scholarship will have to be repaid by any graduate that goes on to play soccer at a senior level representing a country other than Australia, in international competition.
AIS soccer has developed many players to represent Socceroos at the FIFA World Cup.
John Aloisi (1992), Marco Bresciano (1997), Brett Emerton (1995-1996), Joshua Kennedy (1998-1999), Mark Milligan (2002), Craig Moore (1992-1993), Lucas Neill (1994-1995), Josip Skoko (1992-1993), Mile Sterjovski (1996-1996), Mark Viduka (1992-1993) and Luke Wilkshire (1998), Josip Šimunić (1994-1996) for Croatia
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