TW Braga
Our Story
TW Braga officially launched in July 2013, but its roots go back a little further — to a friendship forged between two coaches with a shared passion for football development: Tim Wareing from Belfast and Hugo Vicente from Portugal.
The pair first met on a coaching study visit to the Netherlands and kept in touch. At the time, Hugo was coaching with Benfica, and Tim arranged for him and a colleague to fly to Belfast to deliver a clinic on “The Benfica Way”. Not long after, Hugo took up a new role as Assistant Academy Director at SC Braga, where Tim later visited to see the academy and first team in action.
In 2012, an opportunity arose when DB Tours were looking for another European club to compete in a tournament in Dublin. Tim helped bring SC Braga to the event, and as a thank you, Hugo organised both a coaching clinic and a friendly between Braga’s 1999 youth group and TW Academy.
That game finished 1–1, with several future stars in action. One Braga player would later go on to represent the club’s first team, play for Barcelona and Wolves, and feature at international level for Portugal. Hugo was impressed by the standard of players in Tim’s squad — even more so when he discovered that Tim only had access to them for 90 minutes a week. His remark was telling: “Imagine what could be achieved if you had them three times a week.”
The following day, Tim travelled to Dublin to watch Braga in a tournament that also included Arsenal, West Brom, Celtic, and Barcelona. That evening, over what they thought was a midnight chat (only to discover the hotel clock was broken — it was actually 2:45am!), Tim and Hugo laid the foundations for what would become TW Braga.
Soon after, Tim travelled to Portugal to meet Hugo and Braga’s Academy Director. An agreement was reached: the new project in Northern Ireland would be known as TW Braga, carrying forward the values of Tim’s community work while adopting Braga’s badge and kit identity.
TW Braga launched in June 2013 with just eight players born in 2002. Within two years, they had gone from conception to champions. That first group produced no fewer than three players who went on to sign professional contracts:
- Hassan Ayari – Sheffield United, now Toronto (MLS) and Tunisia international
- Ethan Magee – Linfield
- Spencer Beattie – Ballymena United
The club has continued to grow ever since. In just over a decade, TW Braga has brought together young people from across communities in Northern Ireland, with more than 30 different nationalities now represented.
We are incredibly proud of our graduates. Among them is Josh Briggs, who came through Braga before signing professional terms with West Ham United in the Premier League. Josh now represents Northern Ireland at Under-21 level, a shining example of what hard work and opportunity can achieve.
From a late-night conversation in a Dublin hotel to a thriving club uniting communities, TW Braga’s journey has always been about friendship, opportunity, and football. And this is just the beginning.
