“Sevilla FC is open to the world,” says the club president ahead of the Al-Ittihad match
DUBAI: La Liga club Sevilla face 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 football in Saudi Arabia.
Here are some of his comments.
About the idea behind the Antonio Puerta Trophy…
Antonio Puerta is one of the greatest legends of our club. He was key in the first Europa League title we won in 2006 and in the months that followed. His passing was a heavy blow to the club and supporters, which is why we honor him every year with this match. We always try to invite top level teams to give you the best possible tribute.
About Al-Ittihad's game in the 2024 edition…
We are in the middle of the preseason preparing the team. I think by that day, the 26th, we will have 20 days of training since we started on July 6th. We want to continue training, implementing the game model of our new coach. We expect Sevilla fans to enjoy a good match, ensure competitiveness and let all of us football lovers start to see what Sevilla will be like next season.
On the Saudi Pro League project…
The growth of the Saudi Pro League is very exciting. 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 that we have emerging markets willing to invest. The key now is for them to maintain that level of investment, build solid club structures, professionalise all areas and invest in training youth teams to also enable technical improvement of local players.
About Sevilla's presence at the World Football Summit in Jeddah last December…
Our experience at this summit was very positive. Our various club members 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 generating alliances and synergies.
About Seville's ties with Saudi Arabia…
I had different trips to Saudi Arabia. Our Head of Artificial Intelligence, Elías Zamora, visited to present 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 research policy, which has been recognized in recent years and further enhanced with artificial intelligence. We aim to create links where we can learn from them and they can learn from Sevilla Football Club.
About exporting Seville's renowned research 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 Football Club, we maximized their performance, achieved sporting success in the form of European qualifications and national and European titles, then sold them, generating significant profits that we reinvested in new signings. When this practice became more widespread 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 the artificial intelligence and scouting of each club, to have an efficient policy of buying and selling players.
On building global relationships in Seville…
Sevilla Football Club is a club open to the world. Our internationalization plan aims to develop our fan base worldwide and to do this it is important that we continue to build relationships with clubs in different regions. We are also open to playing away against other clubs if an attractive opportunity arises.
