Football Star Academy unveils Partnership with Directed

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Credit: Football Star Academy

Football Star Academy (FSA) has announced a new partnership with Directed Electronics Australia, the exclusive distributor of Playermaker across Australia and New Zealand.

This collaboration marks an exciting leap forward in the development of both athletes and coaches, giving players across Football Star Academy programs nationwide access to Playermaker’s cutting-edge wearable technology.

Playermaker is the world’s first foot-worn player development system, purpose-built for football and certified by FIFA for match use. It’s already trusted by top clubs like Manchester City, LA Galaxy, and Borussia Dortmund, among others.

Thanks to this collaboration with Directed, FSA franchisees will now be equipped with Playermaker’s innovative ankle-worn devices that track players’ movements in real-time.

These insights give coaches and athletes a deeper understanding of key performance metrics—like speed, distance, and physical load—helping them train smarter and prepare more effectively for matches.

The benefits of this partnership extend well beyond FSA’s own network, offering schools and sports clubs across Australia the chance to access this groundbreaking technology and take their athletes’ development to the next level.

Anthony Grima, Chief Operating Officer of The AllStars Academy (TAA), shared his excitement about the partnership.

“We are obviously delighted to partner with Directed to bring Playermaker’s game-changing technology to the FSA community,” Grima said in a press release

“This partnership will empower our franchisees, schools, and sporting clubs with the ability to track and analyse player performance in real-time, making training more data-driven and impactful.

“By offering them access to Playermaker’s wearable devices, we are furthering our commitment to providing the best resources for athlete and coach development.”

Playermaker’s wearable technology delivers valuable insights by tracking how players move during training and games.

It captures key data like ball touches, kicking power, speed, distance covered, and overall physical load.

By using this data, coaches and athletes can fine-tune training programs, reduce the risk of injury, and improve performance on the pitch.

As part of this collaboration, participating schools and clubs will also have access to exclusive offers and discounts, making it easier to bring Playermaker’s advanced tools into their own programs.

Directed’s exclusive distribution rights to Playermaker and other top-tier sports, fitness, and wellness technologies give FSA a major advantage—ensuring the latest innovations in performance tracking are available across the region.

This partnership also supports FSA’s long-term vision of providing world-class tools and support to its franchisees, partner schools, and clubs—helping players and coaches across Australia reach their full potential.

General Manager of Brand Partnerships & Strategy at Directed Karl Schuster expressed enthusiasm about the team up with Football Star Academy, highlighting how Playermaker will empower athletes and coaches with valuable performance insights, enhancing training and reinforcing FSA’s leadership in sports development.

“We are excited to join forces with Football Star Academy,” Schuster said in a press release.

“With Playermaker, athletes and coaches can gain valuable insights into their movements, helping them make smarter decisions, train more effectively, and unlock their full potential.

“This collaboration will further strengthen FSA’s position as a leader in sports development in the region.”

To learn more about discounted Playermaker products for schools and sports clubs, you can contact Anthony Grima at anthony@taabrands.com or on 0466 208 213.

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Football South Australia renews partnership with Datacord as Community Football Commitment Deepens

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Image Credit: Football SA

Football South Australia has announced the renewal of its partnership with Datacord, continuing a relationship that has grown steadily since the South Australian print and document solutions provider first entered the football community as naming rights sponsor of the Collegiate Soccer League Division 1.

That initial agreement, which saw Datacord align with one of Adelaide’s most historic amateur competitions, marked the beginning of what has since developed into a broader commitment to South Australian football at every level. The renewed partnership extends Datacord’s involvement beyond the CSL and into the wider Football SA ecosystem, with clubs across the state now able to access exclusive offers and preferred pricing on photocopying, managed print services and tailored business solutions.

The practical value of that access should not be understated. Community football clubs operate on tight margins, relying heavily on volunteer administrators managing everything from registration paperwork to grant applications. Cost-effective print and document solutions reduce the operational burden on those volunteers, a small but meaningful contribution to the sustainability of clubs that form the backbone of the game in South Australia.

“George is a great supporter of sport in South Australia and we are delighted to have Datacord as a supporter of football,” said Football SA CEO Michael Carter. “Service is second to none and we highly recommend their services to the business community within the Football Family.”

For Datacord Managing Director George Koutsoubis, the renewal reflects a genuine investment in the community rather than a transactional commercial arrangement. “It is important to support the local community, and Football South Australia is the perfect place to start spreading the word about Datacord and what we do for the South Australian community,” he said. “We are locally owned and operated, and I think it is a great partnership to be part of.”

Football NSW releases $600,000 towards Grassroots Grants to meet Participation Pressure

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The Victorian State Government has announced new grants and funding for 11 new community infrastructure projects for local football clubs, totalling $3.8 million.
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Sixty-five football clubs across New South Wales have secured a combined total of nearly $600,000 in funding through the NSW Office of Sport’s Local Sports Grant Program. It follows as a result of Football NSW’s scale of demand for community sport support and the growing pressure on clubs struggling to keep pace with surging participation.

The grants, covering 69 individual projects across the Football NSW footprint, will fund facility upgrades, equipment purchases, participation programs and accessibility improvements: the unglamorous but essential infrastructure that determines whether community clubs can function at the level their members require.

The Local Sports Grant Program made up to $4.65 million available statewide in 2025, with $50,000 allocated to each electoral district and individual grants capped at $20,000. Football’s share of nearly $600,000 reflects the sport’s status as the largest participation code in NSW, and the degree to which that status has not always been matched by corresponding investment in the facilities and resources required to sustain it.

Volunteers carrying an unsustainable load

The announcement arrives against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the volunteer workforce that keeps community football operational. Across NSW, thousands of volunteers dedicate significant unpaid time each week to administration, ground preparation, canteen operation and the logistical demands of running competitive junior and senior programs. As participation numbers climb, driven in part by the sustained visibility of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the legacy of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, those demands have intensified without a corresponding increase in the resources available to meet them.

“As the largest participation sport in NSW it is pleasing to see almost $600,000 will be reinvested back into supporting our players, coaches, referees and volunteers to improve the football experience across our community clubs,” said Helen Armson, Football NSW’s Group Head of Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Affairs.

The equity dimension

The distribution of the grants across 65 clubs and 69 projects also speaks to the geographic breadth of football’s footprint in NSW, and to the uneven distribution of resources that has historically characterised community sport in this country. Clubs in outer metropolitan and regional areas tend to operate with smaller budgets, older facilities and thinner volunteer bases than their inner-city counterparts. Grant programs structured around electoral allocation, rather than club size or existing resource base, provide a degree of equity that market-driven funding cannot.

The kinds of projects funded under this program disproportionately benefit clubs serving communities where the barriers to participation are highest. A club that cannot offer adequate facilities or equipment is a club that turns players away, often without intending to.

Football NSW has used the announcement to call on the NSW Government to maintain and extend its investment in the sport. “We urge the government to continue to invest in football,” Armson said, in the midst for a nation-wide push for a $343 million decade-long infrastructure fund to address the facilities gap across the state.

The nearly $600,000 secured through this round is meaningful. Against the scale of what is needed, it is also a measure of how far the investment still has to go.

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