THE HIGHLAND FOOTBALL ACADEMY TRUST WAS ESTABLISHED IN
APRIL 2002. IT HAS THREE PRINCIPAL PARTNERS: HIGHLAND COUNCIL, INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE FC AND ROSS COUNTY FC.

• To provide and assist in the provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation for the community and visitors to Dingwall and Inverness and the Highland area in the interests of social welfare, such facilities may be provided to the public at large save that special facilities may be provided for persons who by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disability may have need of special facilities; and
• To provide, operate and manage the provision of leisure and sports recreation facilities by means of the operation of a Football Academy at Victoria Park, Dingwall and at Bught/Charleston areas of Inverness and at such other alternative or additional locations as the Trustees may determine.

The Highland Football Academy Trust is unique in that it is the only Football Academy in the United Kingdom that brings together two professional clubs with the wider community to create an organisation committed to providing high quality sports facilities accessible to a wide range of groups.

The Highland Football Academy Trust has close links with the work of the Scottish Football Association. Its Dingwall Centre is the base for a Football Development Officer who responsible, along with the Trust’s Development Manager, for implementing the SFA Youth Action Plan in Highland, Orkney and the Western Isles. Both the Dingwall and Inverness Centres are used by clubs involved in the Scottish FA’s Youth Initiative Performance Level programme to develop high quality young footballers, as well as a number of other clubs who take part in football governed by the Scottish FA and its constituent arms, the Highland League, the North Caledonian League, the Scottish Schools’ FA, the Scottish Amateur FA and the Scottish Welfare FA.