AFC Wimbledon Youth Academy Learns Financial Wellness in Qualco UK Outreach Programme

Qualco UK recently ran its AFC Wimbledon outreach programme for the under-18s youth academy team on the theme of ‘Financial Wellness Matters’.

The session was delivered by highly-experienced sports commentator and BBC journalist Jonathan Legard, James Goddard, Product Owner at Qualco UK, and Craig Watkins, Head of Player Academy Care at AFC Wimbledon.

The session focused on four key themes – budgeting, planning, savings and debt – to inform and educate the football club’s youth players, and to get them thinking about their financial wellbeing.

The players filled out budget planners and discussed financial products, such as credit cards, and buy now, pay later.

In his introduction, Legard talked about the financial realities of being a sports professional – from overnight success and earning large sums of money, to facing financial worries, such as bankruptcy and debt.

The outreach session also covered mental health and resilience, and how this relates to performance on the pitch, financial wellness and the ability to overcome setbacks, such as injury.

Legard, who is a motor racing and football correspondent at the BBC, and commentates regularly on Formula One races for BBC Radio 5 Live, also provided the Academy players with some media training, the results of which can be seen in the below video.

“The Qualco outreach project at AFC Wimbledon is really impressive, reaching out to a generation of young wannabe footballers, whose education has to include more than bench pressing and free kick routines. If only more sponsors were so proactive,” said Legard.

The video features Ed Leach, who plays right wing, Shaun Soukou, left back and Bailey Cotton, right back, speaking about what they learned about financial wellness – watch to find out which player spent £300 on a pair of trainers!

Qualco UK recently renewed its partnership of community-based football club AFC Wimbledon.