From First Touch to First Team

society, culture, sports, soccer · EN

What does the pathway to professional football really look like? Honest stories for young players, parents and coaches. Every week, host Jan Schmidt sits down with professional footballers, coaches, and people who have built their working lives around the game, and unpacks the journey behind it. The first touch. The rejections. The sacrifices nobody posts about. The moment it turned professional, and everything that came after. From First Touch to First Team is made in Sydney and built for the Australian football landscape, but the guests come from everywhere: the A-League and A-League Women, the NPL, German football, the English Championship, the NWSL, European futsal, and professional leagues across Asia and the Middle East. Some of them made it. Some of them did not, and built a full-time career in football anyway. Both stories matter, and both are here. Past guests include Will Kennedy, Marcus Younis, Kiara De Domizio, Alexander Fuchs, Daniel Georgievski, Erin