Skechers have begun notifying the first boys and girls selected to take part in their Football Lab, but the entry process remains open.
The brand will reserve 50% of the places for girls born in 2013 and 2014 — those turning twelve and thirteen this year. Those chosen will take part from 2 to 4 October in a development experience at Los Ángeles de San Rafael (Segovia).
This is the first edition of a scheme with which Skechers intend to give young footballers a closer look at how an environment close to the professional game works.
The call announces no contracts and no moves to clubs. The programme is presented as a three-day experience modelled on the preparation of a professional footballer.
Entries are submitted by video
Families can complete the entry form on the official Skechers Football Lab website.
The entry is handled by the player’s legal guardian, who accepts the terms on the child’s behalf. The process runs in three steps — guardian registration, email verification and the player’s own form — and requires the videos to be submitted alongside the guardian’s identity document and a signed form.
The call is limited to footballers born in 2013 or 2014. Skechers have not publicly announced a closing date, and the form remains open while the first selections are being made known.
The project combines this online scouting process with in-person activity carried out over the summer. Nor is the Football Lab the only thing bringing development experiences to girls in recent months: the Fundación Canaria Tenerife Costa Adeje has taken a free clinic for girls around the Canary Islands, using the methodology of its senior side.
Having the process set out step by step is not the norm. When FemGol set out to put together a guide so that a family would know how to sign their daughter up for a team, we found that the information simply does not exist: no directory, no map of which clubs near you have a girls’ section.
Three days of training and shared living
Los Ángeles de San Rafael will host the final stage over the first weekend of October. The Segovia site was for decades a regular pre-season base for Atlético de Madrid.
According to the organisers, the programme will include specific training sessions, technical work, sporting challenges and activities designed around learning and living together.
Leila Ouahabi is one of the footballers linked to Skechers Spain who is helping to spread the word. The full-back from Mataró joined Barcelona’s academy at thirteen — the age of the oldest girls in this call — and won a Champions League and five league titles there before four seasons at Manchester City. This summer she has signed for the Chicago Stars.
The window, meanwhile, still has no closing date. Girls born in 2013 and 2014 can apply, and the event runs from 2 to 4 October.
