Arabian Falcons’ Academy Launches UAE’s First Premier League-Standard Pathway to Professional Football
Arabian Falcons FC has today launched Arabian Falcons Academy, opening the first genuine Premier League-standard pathway to professional football ever introduced in the UAE – and one built to feed directly into the country’s own ambitions for the sport.
Where most academies operate at arm’s length from senior football, Arabian Falcons has built its academy directly into the same structure, culture and coaching philosophy as its first team – led by a group who have lived the professional game at the highest level: manager Jonjo Shelvey, player-coach Danny Simpson, captain Ravel Morrison, co-owner and Head of Football Operations Jason Puncheon, and Sporting Director Harry Agombar, who oversees the Academy’s structure, coaching and long-term pathway. From age six, every academy player will train under the same badge and the same standards as the first team pushing for promotion in the UAE Second Division – a route into the game that has, until now, never existed in the region.
The Academy opens with a Free Trial Week from 24th – 28th August at JA Sports Complex, running daily, ahead of an official start on 1st September. Training runs Monday to Friday across two age bands – U6s to U11s and U12s to U16s – under dedicated coaches. Academy sides will also compete in the Youth Football League (YFL) every Sunday, with fixtures released each Tuesday, giving players a competitive matchday environment from their very first weeks in the programme.
What sets Arabian Falcons Academy apart is not marketing – it is who is actually on the training pitch and in the boardroom. Manager Jonjo Shelvey made more than 250 Premier League appearances across spells at Liverpool, Swansea City and Newcastle United, and was capped six times by England. Player-coach Danny Simpson, a Manchester United academy graduate, made over 300 professional appearances – 178 of them in the Premier League – and won the title as part of Leicester City’s history-defying 2015/16 squad at odds of 5,000-1. Captain Ravel Morrison, once rated by Sir Alex Ferguson above Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs as a Manchester United academy player, has gone on to play top-flight and senior football across four continents – the Premier League with Sheffield United, Serie A with Lazio, the Eredivisie with ADO Den Haag, Liga MX with Atlas and MLS with D.C. United – and has won 20 caps for Jamaica, including a World Cup qualifying goal. Co-owner and Head of Football Operations Jason Puncheon built a Premier League career with Crystal Palace and Southampton, scoring in the 2016 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. And Sporting Director Harry Agombar, who oversees the Academy directly, was himself developed across four years at Arsenal and three at Tottenham Hotspur’s academies before a playing career that took him through Serbia, England and the United States – making him, at 33, one of the youngest sporting directors in world football.
For parents in Dubai weighing where to invest their child’s football education, the case is straightforward: nowhere else in the UAE can a six-year-old train under coaches who have genuinely lived the journey – academy prospect, Premier League title winner, full international – inside a club whose profile is growing by the month. That growth cuts both ways. The club’s collaboration with Brooke House FC gives academy graduates a defined international route out, with access to UK trial windows and playing exposure in USL League Two in the United States. Where the national strategy is focused on raising participation and cultivating home-grown talent, Arabian Falcons is building the other half of that pathway – taking UAE-developed players out into world football, not just up through the domestic pyramid. A place at Arabian Falcons Academy is not just a season of good coaching; it is a first, credible step on a route to professional football, backed by people who know exactly what that journey demands and where it can lead.
Jonjo Shelvey, Manager of Arabian Falcons FC, said: “This academy is about giving kids in Dubai something that’s never been available here before – a proper pathway, built on the same standards I’ve trained under my whole career. Every player who walks through the door at JA Sports Complex will be coached the same way we coach the first team. That’s how we’re building this club.”
Jason Puncheon, Co-Owner and Head of Football Operations of Arabian Falcons FC, said: “We didn’t want to build an academy that just sits next to the first team – we wanted one that feeds it. This is a genuine pathway from six years old through to professional football, and with the group we have leading it, families can trust that the level is real.”
Danny Simpson, Player-Coach of Arabian Falcons FC, said: “Coming out of retirement to join this project was about more than playing on – it was about helping build something for the next generation. I know what it takes to make it in the Premier League, and this academy gives young players in the UAE a real shot at that journey.”
Ravel Morrison, Captain of Arabian Falcons FC, said: “I was one of the most talked-about kids to ever come through the top academies in England, and my career has had as many lows as highs since. I don’t hide from that – I want these players to learn from everything I’ve been through, on the pitch and all over the world, not just football. If I can use my experience to help even one of them reach their potential then this academy will have done its job.”
Harry Agombar, Sporting Director of Arabian Falcons FC, said: “I went through Arsenal and Tottenham’s academies myself, then had to find my own way through professional football in Serbia, England and America. I know exactly what a young player needs from a pathway because I’ve lived every version of it – the highs and the setbacks. Everything we’ve built here, from the coaching to our international network, exists so families in Dubai have a route their children can actually see and trust, all the way to the professional game.”
The Academy launch caps a summer of rapid growth for Arabian Falcons, following a full club rebrand and new badge, the extension of Ravel Morrison’s contract, and the arrival of Danny Simpson as the club’s marquee summer signing. Arabian Falcons FC, based in Dubai, is a rising club under ambitious new ownership. Founded as a community-focused side, it has been transformed in recent years into a serious football project chasing promotion to the UAE First Division, with a long-term ambition of continental competition and a place in the FIFA Club World Cup. A behind-the-scenes documentary will continue to follow the club throughout the season.
The timing is deliberate. The UAE is currently pursuing its National Sports Strategy 2031, the country’s first comprehensive strategy for the sector, launched under the direction of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with the aim of lifting sports participation from 43 to 71 per cent of the population, growing sport’s contribution to GDP five-fold, and building what the strategy itself calls “a global identity for Emirati sport.” Grassroots football sits at the heart of that ambition, with the UAE Football Association’s own strategy built around national talent centres and grassroots programmes such as the Mubadala-backed Grassroots Festivals and the 12,000-player DOFA tournament – work recognised with an AFC President’s Gold Award for grassroots football in 2025. Arabian Falcons Academy adds a new, private-sector dimension to that national push: a professionally run academy, coached to Premier League standards, sitting inside a club with a growing international reputation of its own.
