Football Icon
Football Icon is a British television programme shown on Sky One. The programme gives young, unsigned football players between the ages of 16 and 18 a chance to win a contract with the then Premiership champions, Chelsea. Thousands of players who entered were whittled down to fourteen finalists, all of whom were put to the test at their Cobham training ground. The players were eliminated week by week until only the final three remained, when then-manager José Mourinho and his staff selected a winner.
| Football Icon | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports |
| Narrated by | Dave Kelly |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60mins (inc. adverts) |
| Production company | North One |
| Release | |
| Original network | Sky One |
| Original release | 2005 – 2006 |
| Related | |
| Football's Next Star | |
Series 1
The first series began in October 2005, and 5,000 young footballers across the UK took part. The series was won by Chelsea fan Jaimie Ashley, who was attending Forest School in Horsham, England. After five seasons in the youth team at Stamford Bridge, Ashley left the Blues in the close season of 2011. He has gone on to play for semi-professional teams, Welling United, Worthing, Woking, Boreham Wood.
Series 2
The eventual winner was Carl Magnay. The series also included striker Moses Ademola.[1][2]
References
- Johnson, Simon. "'It was brutal - but it changed my life': Carl Magnay on winning Football Icon and a contract at Chelsea". The Athletic. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- "The winner of Football Icon 2 who won a Chelsea contract in 2007 - what happened to him?". GiveMeSport. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.