Hi, my name is Pav. I'm the Owner, Technical Director and Coach of the European Football Academy - Albany. We may have crossed paths whilst I was the Community Participation Officer and Regional Lead at Football West. But for those who haven't met me yet, here is my story.

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My football career started as a 12-year old, and since then I've been a football player, assistant coach and head coach for junior, men's and women's teams across Europe.  Over the course of my life I've lived, worked and played football in Poland, Canada, Germany, England and Australia. 

 

Within my most recent role with Football West, I was based in Albany, increasing community participation, coaching regional state teams and providing coach education.  Within six months in the role I was promoted to Regional Lead, providing guidance to football development staff across regional WA. As Regional Lead, I had the opportunity to travel all over WA, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the different regions and their unique requirements for development of the sport. During this time I met many great people and very talented players, however it became quickly obvious that opportunities in football were very limited, compared with those nearer to Perth.

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Prior to this, I was the Head Coach of the semi-professional women's first team in the Regional Liga West (the fourth tier, of the German competition).  My biggest achievement in this role was the creation of a SC West Koln women's reserve team and getting pro players from Div 3 to sign with the club.  Before Covid halted the league, the first women's team was placed in the top half of the table having competed against clubs such as: Bayer Leverkusen, FC Koln, Fortuna Koln, Alemania Aachen and others.

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Before moving to Germany, I was working for Polonia Warsaw, one of the oldest professional football clubs in Poland.  During this time, I was the Head Coach of the u-15 boys reserve team, where I gained valuable coaching experience. One of my many achievements while in this role, was having 4 of my players called up to the Polish and Finnish u-15 national teams, as well as multiple players called up for the state team.  At Polonia, I was also the assistant Coach for the u-13 boys team under the guidance of one of the most prominent and well-respected football coaches in Poland. Michal Libich was by far the greatest influence in my football coaching journey and his experience from coaching the u-15 Polish national boys team, multiple Polish top flight teams, as well as Robert Lewandowski, has been a fantastic source of knowledge which has shaped me into the coach I am today.  

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Leading up to this I spent three years in Southampton, England, where I enrolled into the Southampton Solent university to study a B.A. in Football Studies. During this time I began completing the coaching licences starting with the FA Level 1 award, and gaining valuable experience working for the Hampshire FA and Arsenal FC.  I graduated university with the highest distinction of First Class with Honours.  

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Growing up, I played football at every given opportunity.  At the age of 19, I was offered football scholarships to three different universities in the US.  However, circumstances and a long-held dream of playing professional football in Europe meant that this wasn't the path my football career was to eventually take. 

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With my vast experience, and understanding of the needs of regional players, I have decided to venture out on my own to create the European Football Academy. I hope to continue developing elite and professional players, and create opportunities and pathways within our region.

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I hope that you will be compelled to put your trust in my experience and knowledge of football, to help develop your child to the best that they can be. Feel free to have a look at my experience below or to click the Linkedin button for a more detailed outline.