The president of Sevilla Club said before the Al-Ittihad game: Sevilla Club is open to the world
Dubai: LaLiga club Sevilla face Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad on Friday night in the annual Antonio Puerta Cup match, which is part of the pre-season preparations for both teams.
Arab News spoke with Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco, president of Sevilla, about the fight with Al Ittihad and the state of football in Saudi Arabia.
Here are some of his comments.
About the idea behind the Antonio Puerta Award…
Antonio Puerta is one of the greatest legends of our club. He won our first Europa League title in 2006 and the following months. His passing was a hard blow for the club and the fans, and that's why we honor him every year with this match. We always try to invite top teams to give him the best tribute.
About the match with Al Ittihad in 2024…
We are in the middle of the preseason when we are preparing the team. I believe that by that day, the 26th, we will have 20 days of practice since we started on July 6th. We want to continue our training with the implementation of our new trainer's game model. We expect Sevilla fans to enjoy a good game, ensure competition and let all of us football lovers see what Sevilla will be like next season.
In the Saudi professional league project…
The growth of the Saudi Premier League is very interesting. For clubs like Sevilla FC, part of our business model is based on selling players for a profit that allows us to make new investments, it is important that emerging markets are willing to invest. The key now is for them to maintain that level of investment, build strong structures at the clubs, professionalise all areas and invest in youth teams to enable technical development in local players as well. .
Regarding Sevilla's participation in the World Football Summit in Jeddah last December…
Our experience at this summit was very positive. Our various club members were able to see firsthand how football is developing in Saudi Arabia and we can expand our network of contacts in the region to continue building alliances and synergies.
Regarding the relationship between Soya and Saudi Arabia…
We have made several trips to Saudi Arabia. Our Head of AI, Elias Zamora, visited to showcase 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, transfer policy and scouting policies that have been recognized and improved by artificial intelligence in recent years. Our goal is to create links where we can learn from them and they can learn from Sevilla FC.
Regarding the export of the famous scouting methodology of Soya…
At the beginning of the 21st century, we started a scouting policy that allowed us to find unknown market players. These players came to FC Sevilla, we maximized their performance, achieved sporting success in the form of European competitions and national and European titles, and then sold them and made a significant profit, which we reinvested in new acquisitions. When this practice became common in football, we introduced a new factor: artificial intelligence. This sports knowledge can be provided to the Arab markets to give them the ability to have an effective player buying and selling policy through artificial intelligence and searching for each club.
About the establishment of global soybean relations…
Sevilla football club is a club that is open to the world. Our internationalization program aims to grow our fan base around the world and to do this it is important to continue to build relationships with clubs in different regions. We are also ready to play away from other clubs if the opportunity is attractive.
