“Sevilla FC is open to the world,” says the club president ahead of the Al-Ittihad match
DUBAI: La Liga club Sevilla take on Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad on Friday night in the annual Antonio Puerta Trophy match, which is also part of the pre-season preparations for both teams.
Arab News spoke to Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco about the clash with Al-Ittihad and the state of Saudi football.
Here are some of his comments.
About the idea behind the Antonio Puerta Trophy…
Antonio Puerta is one of the biggest legends in our club. He was key in the first Europa League title we won in 2006 and in the ones that followed in the months that followed. His passing was a heavy blow to the club and the fans, that's why we honor him every year with this game. We always try to invite high level teams to give him the best possible tribute.
On playing Al-Ittihad in the 2024 edition…
We are in the middle of the pre-season and preparing the team. I think on 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 and implementing the game model for our new coach. We expect Sevilla fans to enjoy a good game, ensure competitiveness and let all of us who love football start to see what Sevilla will look like in the coming season.
About the Saudi Pro League project…
The growth of the Saudi Pro League is very interesting. For clubs like Sevilla FC, 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 that are willing to invest. The key now is for them to maintain that level of investment, build solid structures in the clubs, professionalise all areas and invest in formation for youth teams to also enable a technical improvement in local players.
On Sevilla's presence at the World Football Summit in Jeddah last December…
Our experience with this summit was very positive. Different members of our club were able to see first-hand how football is developing in Saudi Arabia, and we can expand our network of contacts in the region to continue creating alliances and synergies.
On Sevilla's ties with Saudi Arabia…
We have had various trips to Saudi Arabia. Our Head of Artificial Intelligence, Elías Zamora, visited to showcase the tools we have and can offer to the general football market and specifically to Saudi Arabia. In addition, through our sporting management, we can share our extensive knowledge, our transfer policy and our scouting policy, which have been recognized in recent years and further enhanced with artificial intelligence. We aim to create bonds where we can learn from them, and they can learn from Sevilla FC.
On exporting Sevilla's famous scouting method…
In the early 2000s, we started a scouting policy that allowed us to find players unknown to the market. These players came to Sevilla Football Club, we maximized their performances, achieved sporting success in the form of European qualifications and national and European titles, and then we sold them, generating significant profits that we reinvested in new signings. As 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 give them the ability, through artificial intelligence and scouting of each club, to have an effective player acquisition and sale policy.
About Seville's global relationship building…
Sevilla Football Club is a club open to the world. Our internationalization plan aims to grow our fan base worldwide, and to do so it is important to continue building relationships with clubs from different regions. We are also open to playing as visitors against other clubs if an attractive opportunity arises.
