Children at football academies are more likely to 'get hit by a meteorite' than succeed as professionals – here’s the shocking statistic

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June 29, 2017 2:24 PM

'Only 180 of the 1.5 million players will make it as a Premier League pro. That's a success rate of 0.012%,' author Michael Calvin told Business Insider UK.

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Business Insider UK spoke to Michael Calvin, author of the book "No Hunger in Paradise: The Players. The Journey. The Dream," about how children enrolled in academies have a very small chance of succeeding as professional footballers.

Here's a transcript of the video:

Academies of their very essence are a good idea. Get the best players, give them the best coaches in the best potential environment.

The problem is that the ills of senior football – greed, opportunism, the stockpiling of talent unnecessarily for commercial gain – are seeping down into junior football.

That's what's happening in the academies of the major clubs where boys are going in, they're sucked into the system. They're taken over by the dream.

But, realistically, all they would do is sit there and wait for a chance that will never come.

The statistics are really sobering. Out of all the boys who enter an academy at the age of 9, less than half of 1% make it. Or a make a living from the game either.

The most damning statistic of all is only 180 of the 1.5 million players who are playing organised youth football in England at any one time will make it as a Premier League pro.

That's a success rate of 0.012%.

Pretty much the sort of chances of you being hit by a meteorite on your way home.

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