Football South’s scholarship programme is continuing for a second year.
Beginning last year, the programme aims to attract young football talent to the region while keeping the top local talent at home.
The federation combined with the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic to assist young players with their study and football.
Players can apply for scholarships, which generally last for the duration of their degree, at either institution.
There will be at least two available at the university and a further five at the polytechnic.
Successful applicants have their academic fees either fully or substantially covered and receive academic support to help them achieve highly.
They also receive assistance from Football South in the form of extra coaching, the provision of equipment and various educational opportunities to help them reach their football potential.
Football South CEO Chris Wright said it was important to look after its young players in both their sporting and academic pursuits.
"Our responsibility, from a Football South perspective, is to help the student-athlete meet both the academic and football requirements.
"So to help them keep playing at the highest level possible, to provide them with opportunities to extend themselves in a football sense and to support them academically and help them achieve their life goals."
There were eight players under scholarship from last year who would be joined by this year’s intake.
Wright said it was possible that in four years’ time there could be 25-35 active scholarship students in the region.
He hoped the programme could run for many more years and believed that the success of last year’s programme had left the federation in a better position.
"We have situations here, for example, where we have a lot of high-quality student footballers coming into the region and for national league they return back to their area of origin and play where they were developed," he said.
"With the scholarship, it gives us an opportunity to help further develop the players while they’re here and also for them to form part of our national league campaign."
Applications for the university scholarship close on Tuesday, while the polytechnic ones closed on September 22.
