“Sevilla FC is open to the world,” says club president ahead of Al-Ittihad match
DUBAI: La Liga club Sevilla will take on Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad on Friday night in the annual Antonio Puerta Trophy match, which is also part of both teams' pre-season preparations.
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.
On 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 following months. His departure was a hard blow for 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 possible tribute.
On playing Al-Ittihad in the 2024 edition…
We are in the middle of the preseason and we are preparing the team. I believe by that day, the 26th, we will have 20 days of training from the start on July 6th. We want to continue training and implement the game model of our new coach. We expect Sevilla fans to enjoy a good game, ensure competitiveness and all of us who love football will start to see what Sevilla will be 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 willing to invest. It is now crucial for them to maintain this level of investment, build solid structures in the clubs, professionalize all areas and invest in the formation of youth teams to enable the technical improvement of local players as well.
On 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 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 had different trips to Saudi Arabia. Our Head of Artificial Intelligence, Elías Zamora, visited to demonstrate the tools we have and can offer to the general football market and Saudi Arabia in particular. In addition, through our sports management we can share our extensive knowledge, our transfer policy and our scouting policy, which has been recognized and further enhanced by artificial intelligence in recent years. Our aim is to create bonds where we can learn from them and they can learn from Sevilla Football Club.
About the export of Seville's renowned search methodology…
At the beginning of the 21st century, we started a scouting policy that allowed us to find unknown players on 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 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 provide them with an effective player acquisition and sales policy through artificial intelligence and scouting of each club.
On global relationship building in Seville…
Sevilla Football Club is a club open to the world. Our internationalization plan aims to expand our fan base worldwide and to achieve this it is important to continue to build relationships with clubs from different regions. We are also open to playing away against other clubs if an attractive opportunity arises.
