What is NextGen?

NextGen is the Scottish FA's Girls' Performance Programme – the national Talent Development Environment for players aged 11 to 17. It exists to give committed young players access to a genuinely high-performance environment: better coaching, better competition, and a clear line of sight to the Scottish Women's Premier League and beyond.

As part of the Scottish FA's wider strategy to develop homegrown talent, NextGen clubs like Spartans deliver extra weekly sessions, regional talent identification through Developing Talent Centres, and specialist technical work through the Emerging Talent Centres programme. For our players, it means a structured, well-supported pathway towards higher levels of women's football.

What It Takes to Be a NextGen Club

Achieving and maintaining NextGen status is demanding on a club. To be accredited as a Talent Development Environment, the Scottish FA requires clubs to meet a demanding set of standards across coaching, facilities, and player welfare – including 3 on-pitch sessions per week, dedicated strength & conditioning provision, qualified coaches at every squad, and access to suitable training and match facilities.

Spartans has invested in meeting every one of these standards so our NextGen players train and compete in an elite, nationwide-competitive environment – one built to the Scottish FA's own definition of high performance.

A Volunteer Effort

Almost everything you see in our NextGen programme – coaching, admin, logistics, fundraising – is run by volunteers giving up evenings and weekends because they believe in these players. Meeting the Scottish FA's NextGen standards requires significant funding: pitch hire, S&C provision, kit, and travel don't come cheap, and larger clubs with professional academy structures and corporate backing can absorb those costs in ways a grassroots club like Spartans can't.

We're proud to compete at the same level as those clubs, but we can only keep doing it with the support of sponsors, donors, and this community. Every contribution helps close that gap so our players get the environment they've earned.

Our Coaches

All of our NextGen coaches are SFA qualified, and each squad has coaches holding a Scottish FA B Licence. Meet each team's coaching staff on their squad page.