Meet our coach - lee thompson
Lee’s passion for all things football has developed since joining his first team at the age of 7. He then went on to play in the top leagues of youth football within the Devon Junior & Minor Football League and then progressed into Elite DC, a Plymouth based youth team, touring the country with his fellow players and competing against professional youth clubs such as Plymouth Argyle, Exeter City, Brentford FC, Sunderland, Newcastle United, Celtic and many more. Now as an adult he loves nothing more than sharing his gift with others, encouraging children not only in footballing abilities but in self confidence, teamwork, positivity and commitment.
Lee has been coaching youth football since 2017. Leading his under 9s team to a double promotion in his debut coaching position for Signal Box FC in Plymouth, he received the Welfare Officer’s Award of excellence for stand out performance throughout the season and gained his FA Level 1 Certificate during this time.
In 2018/2019 Lee was given the opportunity to step up and become actively involved in coaching the Signal Box Mini Kickers for children aged 3-8 as a head coach for the club. He thoroughly enjoyed this role and this became a leading factor to creating Champions Football.
Unfortunately Covid 19 saw a country-wide break for most of youth football. Upon Lee's return to football after the pandemic and the birth of his son, the idea of Champions Football was born in 2022 and he officially kicked of the first Champions Football training session in Spring 2023! After gaining a wealth of knowledge and understanding within competitive football, Lee had recognised a gap within the industry to create another stage in the lead up to playing competitive football - a stage set purely for the love of the game, an opportunity to learn, be safe and have fun with a transition into joining official local clubs, academies and regional talent centres.
In the 2024/25 season Lee was given an opportunity to coach Honiton Town Women's FC who played in the South West Regional Women's Football League and competed in the Devon FA Women's Premier Cup reaching the Semi finals and also played in the Adobe Women's FA Cup in back to back seasons. It was at this stage that Lee completed the UEFA C football coaching course and gained his official UEFA C qualification.
In 2025 Lee completed the Devon FA Referee course and is looking forward to utilising this course within Champions Football's match day experiences coming in 2026. He also hopes to get involved in refereeing competitive football for local clubs of all ages within the southwest.
Does Lee still play football? Yes he does! Lee plays for fun now as part of the ECFC Charity Fundraising team (Veterans). He attends their weekly sessions based in Cullompton but is yet to make an appearance for them on match days as he is technically still too young... ;)
