News from the Club...
'Andrew Sparkes has been appointed as the club’s first Head of Goalkeeping.
Sparkes, who joined QPR on a short-term basis as Goalkeeping Coach in January, will lead on the
development and monitoring of the club’s goalkeepers and goalkeeper coaching staff across the first team,
development squad, youth team and Women’s team.
He will also work closely with the necessary staff to ensure the key messages delivered to the first-team goalkeepers
are relayed across the club.
Sparkes, who holds a UEFA Goalkeeper A Licence as well as an A Licence as an outfield coach and is a
UEFA Coach Educator for the FAW, began his coaching in his native Wales with Swansea City before enjoying a
six-year spell in the MLS with New York Red Bulls.
Following a year with FC Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, Sparkes returned to the Liberty Stadium and remained
for six years as Head of Academy Goalkeeping.
More recently, Sparkes spent four years in the Premier League as First-Team Goalkeeping Coach with Southampton
before joining Reading in mid-2023, where he enjoyed a short period as Assistant Manager prior to his switch to
W12 five months ago.
Sparkes said: “I’m delighted to join QPR on a full-time basis as Head of Goalkeeping.
“I really enjoyed my time at the club during the last part of the '23/24 season and it was great to play a part in the
team’s turnaround to have a positive finish to the campaign.”
Speaking about his new position, Sparkes said: “It’s a really exciting role for me, working across the whole club to
ensure alignment from the Academy into the first team, working with all the goalkeepers and goalkeeper coaches
to create a pathway for our talented goalkeepers to thrive within the football club.”
CEO Christian Nourry said: "The creation of this role is an important step in achieving methodological alignment across
our goalkeeping department, for both the women's and men's teams.
“I am delighted that Andrew will continue to work with us going forward. He is a highly-respected professional in this
area who wants to further hone his ideas to ensure that we become hyper-productive in the goalkeeping part of the
football club."
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