Midlands Enterprise Awards 2020

61 | Midlands Enterprise Awards 2020 Best Football Agent - UK Lexii Sports Management is an international agency specialising in the recruitment and support of professional and amateur footballing talent. Founded by FA Registered intermediary, Marcia Marie Mendy, Lexii is driven by a mission to support young people of all backgrounds as they pursue their dream football careers. Having recognised the lack of opportunities open to young female footballers in particular when she was pursuing her own career, Marcia is now ensuring that no young person should ever have to struggle to make their dreams come true. We found out more about how Marcia is going above and beyond to make this happen. Operating in Wrexham, North Wales, with an office in Cameroon and collaborators across the UK, Lexii Sports Management is a growing company specialising in the recruitment and career progression of professional and amateur footballers. In 2012, Founder and CEO of Lexii, Marcia Marie Mendy passed the FA Football Agents Exams to become a FA Registered Intermediary (FA no. 57492847 and IMS001976). Her vision in starting Lexii was to give young footballers the opportunities that she had never had, particularly as a young female footballer. Driven by her own experiences and her desire to help the young footballing community, Marcia’s work is entirely selfless, and often sees her putting the chances of her clients before her financial gain. Whereas many agents prioritise getting their own fees, Marcia is much more likely to negotiate getting one of the footballers in her care into a club, without receiving any fee. As such, Lexii is a unique sports management agency, being the only one to be run by a fully registered intermediary who has eight years of experience in the industry and knows no limits when it comes to client service. With a dynamic and enthusiastic approach, Marcia recruits new talent as well as offering career advice to existing players seeking the next level of progression. Marcia undertakes all contract negotiations, whether they are between players and clubs or only clubs, working with them to ensure mutual success for all parties involved. Marcia is also a qualified carer who works with vulnerable adults and people with mental issues and learning disabilities. This qualification has equipped her well in dealing with younger players and helping them to get ahead in their footballing careers, enabling them to get further than she ever had the opportunity to. Consequently, Marcia has helped more than forty young players to get into professional or amateur teams by negotiating for them without taking any agency fee. It is by no means easy working with young people, especially those who are vulnerable or come Sep20833 from challenging backgrounds, but Marcia’s background in social care and her drive to lift young people up means she is undeterred. She always acts in accordance with FIFA rules and collaborates with families and the FA to ensure that her clients receive the best, most compliant service and get the best start to their footballing careers. Even adversity such as the Covid-19 pandemic have not thrown Marcia off her stride in her mission to support young people, despite the disruption to the football industry as a whole. Working from home and regularly checking in with her clients, Marcia is making sure that even whilst they are homebound or not playing as much as they should, their careers are still progressing along a positive trajectory. As football starts to return to a sense of normality, Marcia remains busy in scouting new talent and supporting existing players. However, although she is the one-person team behind Lexii, without any aid, she has visions and aims to help even more young people. The end goal is to own her own football club that is complete with a great educational academy for promising young footballers from all over the UK. With ambitions set high and a determination in pursuing her selfless ambitions, Marcia and Lexii will undoubtedly be one to watch over the years to come as they continue their lifechanging work. Contact: Marcia Marie Mendy Company: Lexii Sports Management Web Address: www.lexiisportsmanagement.com