Somerset Trojans coach Dennis Brown is to head up a Brazilian Soccer Schools (BSS) academy on local shores in the not-too-distant future, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

The brainchild of English coach and businessman Simon Clifford, BSS already boasts academies in 61 countries across the globe and has more than one million kids enrolled.

The organisation's primary objective is to encourage kids to spend more time working with the ball refining their skills in what is arguably the most complete development programme of any sport in the world.

Among those who have successfully completed the BSS curriculum and gone onto bigger and better things are Manchester City's Micah Richards, Leeds United's Oliver Hotchkiss and Celtic's Nick Riley.

Former Trojan and Bermuda skipper Brown, also subsribes to the BSS coaching philosophy which he envisions will one day form a template for future generations of Bermudian footballers to adhere to.

"BSS will be the model for all football coaches and players in the immediate future and beyond. And it is indeed a great pleasure and honour to be accepted as a BSS franchisee," he said.

Mark Rasche, BSS managing director, is delighted to have man of Brown's pedigree onboard.

"We are constantly looking for the right individuals or groups to expand our programme beyond the areas we already work in," he said. "We have the most complete coaching programme in world football and are also the largest football coaching organisation on the globe. So it follows that we are now beginning to see the result of our work and will continue to do so."

Garforth Town coach Clifford formed BSS in 1996 and a year later embarked on an ambitious expedition to Brazil to try an unearth the secrets of the country's football success. It was during his visit he discovered the benefits to be gained from playing Futebol de Salao, a five-a-side variant of the game that uses a smaller, heavier ball that virtually has no bounce.

Although no longer popular in Brazil, Futebol de Salao is largely credited for shaping the careers of Brazilian legends such as Pele, Rivelino, Zico and more recently Juninho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo.

Such was Clifford's aduration for the game that on his return to the UK he formed the ICFDS that works hand-in-hand with his academy's innovative coaching techniques that have been sought by household names such as Wayne Rooney and Micheal Owen.

Brown, one of the best defenders this island has produced, recently obtained ICFDS coaching certification, making him the leading expert on the game locally.

"Dennis joined us for our tenth annual ICFDS (International Confederation Futebol de Salao) coaching course, and it was great for him to meet everybody operating their own centres around the world," added BSS managing director Rasche.