“Sevilla is open to the world,” says club president before 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 pre-season preparations for both teams.
Arab News spoke to Sevilla president José Maria del Nido Carrasco about the clash with Al-Ittihad and the situation in Saudi football.
Here are some of his comments.
On the idea behind the Antonio Puerta Trophy…
Antonio Puerta is one of our club's greatest legends. He was instrumental in our first Europa League title in 2006 and in the ones that followed in the months that followed. His passing was a huge blow to the club and the fans, which is why we pay tribute to him every year with this match. We always try to invite top-level teams to give him the best possible tribute.
On participating in Al-Ittihad in the 2024 edition…
We are halfway through the preseason, we are preparing the team. I think that by that day, the 26th, we will have done 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 the Sevilla fans to enjoy a good game, to ensure competitiveness and for all of us who love football to 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 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. The key now is for them to maintain that level of investment, build strong structures in the clubs, professionalize all areas and invest in training for the youth teams to also allow for technical improvement in the local players.
On Sevilla's presence at the World Football Summit held in Jeddah last December…
Our experience at this summit was very positive. Several 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 generating alliances and synergies.
On Sevilla's links with Saudi Arabia…
We have made several trips to Saudi Arabia. Our head of artificial intelligence, Elías Zamora, came to show us the tools we have and that we can offer to the football market in general 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 in recent years and further improved with artificial intelligence. We aim to create links where we can learn from them and they can learn from Sevilla Football Club.
On exporting Sevilla's renowned scouting methodology…
At the beginning of the 21st century, we started a scouting policy that allowed us to find players unknown to the market. These players arrived at Sevilla Football Club, we maximized their performance, achieved sporting success in the form of European qualifications and national and European titles, and then sold them, generating significant profits that we reinvested in new purchases. When this practice became more common in football, we introduced a new factor: artificial intelligence. This sports know-how can be offered to the Arab market to give it the possibility, through artificial intelligence and scouting of each club, to have an effective player acquisition and sale policy.
On Sevilla's global relationship building…
Sevilla Football Club is a club open to the world. Our internationalization plan aims to increase our fan base around the world and, to do so, it is important to continue building relationships with clubs from different regions. We are also open to playing as guests against other clubs if an interesting opportunity arises.
