“FC Sevilla is open to the world,” says the club's president before the match against Al Ittihad.
DUBAI: La Liga club Sevilla will face Saudi Professional League side Al Ittihad on Friday night in the annual Antonio Puerto Trophy match, which is also part of both teams' pre-season training.
Arab News spoke to Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco about the clash with Al Ittihad and the state of football in Saudi Arabia.
Here are some of his comments.
About the idea of the Antonio Puerta trophy…
Antonio Puerta is one of the greatest legends of our club. He was key to the first Europa League title we won in 2006 and the ones that followed in the months that followed. His death is a huge blow to the club and the fans, which is why we honor him every year with this match. We always try to invite high level teams to offer him the best tribute.
About the game with Al Ittihad in the 2024 edition…
We are in the middle of the pre-season, preparing the team. I believe that by that day, the 26th, we will have had 20 days of training since we started on the 6th of July. We want to continue training, implementing the game model of our new coach. We expect Sevilla fans to get a good match, ensure competitiveness and let all of us who love football see what Sevilla will be like next season.
About the Saudi Pro League project…
The growth of the Saudi Professional League is very interesting. For clubs like FC Sevilla, where part of our business model is based on selling players to generate profits that allow us to make new investments, it is important to have emerging markets ready to invest. Now the main thing for them is to maintain this level of investment, build solid structures in the clubs, professionalize all areas and invest in the formation of youth teams to also allow the technical improvement of local players.
About Sevilla's participation in the World Football Summit in Jeddah last December…
Our experience at this summit was very positive. Different members of our club have been able to see firsthand how football is developing in Saudi Arabia and we can expand our network of contacts in the region to continue to build alliances and interact.
On Seville's ties to Saudi Arabia…
We had different trips to Saudi Arabia. Our Head of Artificial Intelligence Elias Zamora visited us to demonstrate the tools we have and can offer to the general football market and Saudi Arabia in particular. In addition, with the help of our sports management, we can share our extensive knowledge, our transfer policy and our scouting policy, which has been recognized in recent years and further improved with the help of artificial intelligence. We aim to create connections where we can learn from them and they can learn from Sevilla FC.
About the export of the famous scouting methodology of Seville…
At the beginning of the 21st century, we started a scouting policy that allowed us to find players unknown in the market. These players came to Sevilla FC, we maximized their performance, achieved sporting success in the form of European qualifications and national and European titles, and then sold them with a significant profit, which we reinvested in new signings. When this practice became more common in football, we introduced a new factor: artificial intelligence. This sporting know-how can be offered to the Arab market to enable them, thanks to the artificial intelligence and scouting of each club, to have an effective player acquisition and sale policy.
On the establishment of global relations of Seville …
Sevilla FC is a club open to the world. Our internationalization plan aims to increase our fan base worldwide, and for this it is important to continue to build relationships with clubs from different regions. We are also open to playing away games against other clubs if an attractive opportunity arises.
