Mark shared “Around six months ago, a kick around with my son’s friends turned into a full-blown match, which then led to an academy of 75 children, with five new children joining every week.”


“It all started when I spoke with a friend of mine who had a club at Browns Sports Club in Vilamoura, so we were chatting and he told me half of his team were girls, which led us to talk about the lack of football clubs for girls in Portugal. I said to him, give me two months and I will get a girls team together and we will play you.

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Client;

So, I got my son, who was 9 at the time, to ask around school and we got a girls team together and then it had a snowball effect and friends were telling friends, so two months in, there were 30 kids.”

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Client;

Mark told The Portugal News that “There is a gap because if you are either not good enough or feel you are not good enough to play for one of the Portuguese clubs, you end up not joining. Portuguese clubs tend to be serious and our academy is just for those who enjoy playing football as we don’t take it as seriously. We meet twice a week for training and from time to time I will organise a game for them, to just keep them motivated to something on the horizon. Recent matches have been played for both boys and girls and mixed teams at various ages against AIS, Vilamoura Academy and Campinense.”

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Client;

Best of all, the academy caters for girls as well as boys of all nationalities, with training in English, however, two of the coaches also speak Portuguese. “We really want to cater to the gap that is girls football and get that side of the club really strong. We also do not currently charge anything as we want to make it accessible to parents and their children, which is why all our coaches are volunteers, all we ask for is a 20 euro voluntary joining fee which is for equipment.”

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Client;

Thunder Club Algarve would be delighted to welcome new faces so please do reach out to them via the email below if you are interested. The academy is committed to two training sessions a week, in which they will continue to play at Amendoira Golf Resort on Sunday’s at 09.30am.

Unfortunately, Thunder Club has reached a predicament as they have outgrown the location they are currently at so they are looking to secure a pitch for Wednesday’s at 6pm, with outdoor lighting available. If anyone knows of a pitch or can help in any way, please do reach out to them at Thunderclubalgarve@gmail.com.