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Matthew Stanford

Matthew joined our Category 1 Football Programme at Bishop Burton College in July 2019 and he has developed significantly since then. He played a fundamental role in our success as a team in 2019/20, starting the majority of games in our English Colleges Football Association (ECFA) Premier League title-winning season.

In 2021/22 Matthew progressed from college level study to University Centre Bishop Burton's HNC in Sport and Exercise Science, whilst still accessing our Category 1 football programme as a third-year player.

Matthew's performances for the first team have been outstanding. His creative play from midfield and his ability to score goals from any position has been fundamental to our success in the league where we finished second. More recently, Matthew scored the winning goals against Bridgwater to take the college to its first ever national final in football. He then scored our first ever national cup final goal with an 86th minute equaliser against South Devon at Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster.

With support from Bishop Burton, Matthew has managed to secure himself a 50% football scholarship in Tennessee, America. He flew out in August 2022 to pursue the next stage of his footballing and academic career.

“When I joined Bishop Burton College I came from grassroots football. The football programme has really developed my tactical understanding of the game and physically I also started to develop. I really enjoyed competing at the highest level of college football and to get the National Cup final in my final year was the icing on the cake. With the coaches' support over the last three years I have developed into a much better player and now have a chance to continue my footballing career in America on a 50% scholarship in Tennessee."

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