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Valencia, Geylang join forces to develop youth

SINGAPORE — In a first for local football, S.League club Geylang International will partner Spanish La Liga giants Valencia CF to run Spanish-style football clinics and camps in Bedok as part of the new Valencia CF Soccer School.

Valencia players Santi Mina (L) and Mathew Ryan mingle with residents and supporters before a kickabout on May 18, 2016. Photo: Jason Quah

Valencia players Santi Mina (L) and Mathew Ryan mingle with residents and supporters before a kickabout on May 18, 2016. Photo: Jason Quah

SINGAPORE — In a first for local football, S.League club Geylang International will partner Spanish La Liga giants Valencia CF to run Spanish-style football clinics and camps in Bedok as part of the new Valencia CF Soccer School.

The three-year partnership was inked at the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) on Wednesday (May 18), with the programme at Bedok Stadium to consist of 10-session and three-day courses to teach youths aged between 10 to 16 the skills and techniques of the Spanish League’s footballers.

The move could also see some of the Republic’s finest eventually don the black-and-white kit of the Los Che, as promising youngsters could be earmarked for training attachments with the six-time La Liga champions. 

Top players from the Valencia CF Soccer School — and those identified via Geylang’s community outreach and scouting work — will be selected for Geylang’s Centre of Excellence Under-15 and Under-17 squads, and if “a very outstanding talent” emerges, he could be given a training attachment with the Spanish club. 

Two-time S.League champions Geylang had managed to secure the deal through the work of the club’s committee members, said chairman Ben Teng on Wednesday.

“We have been in talks for a couple of months. We (Geylang and Valencia) share the same values in youth development and community outreach and we decided we wanted to do something together.”

Exchange programmes for coaches and players could also be in the works, and Teng is hopeful the partnership will reap rewards for local football. “Since our management committee took over in December, we have been trying to build up our local football players,” he added. “I hope this translates into something for Singapore football.”

The Valencia CF Soccer School could also develop similar partnerships with other local football outfits, as Peter Draper, Valencia CF’s commercial & marketing director said: It’s a non-exclusive agreement. If there are other opportunities to engage with other football clubs, be they high level or mid-level, we’re happy to look at that. 

“If we can work with local football to improve their coaching fraternity or administration or marketing, then actually application in the market by local people is the best way to do it.”

The Geylang-Valencia partnership is part of a slew of initiatives and activities that Valencia — which is owned by Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim — has planned for the Republic’s football fans and community. 

Wednesday’s press conference saw Valencia announcing a new initiative, the Singapore Football Festival — in partnership with La Liga and the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) — which will be held here next year. As part of the festival, Valencia will play a friendly at the 55,000-seater National Stadium next year, with two or three matches against local and international teams scheduled for subsequent seasons. 

Added Draper: “We’re expecting a whole range of thoughts and ideas from local football, we want to engage with existing events, small events, bigger events and provide an umbrella for a celebration. 

“This is not just one game, we want to go things around the city state, around the community to engage as well. It is important that we do a variety of things and not one size fits all.”

With the English Premier League (EPL), German Bundesliga and La Liga making their moves into Asia, the Spanish league is keen to catch up with their rivals from Europe. 

“Over the last three years, we’ve expanded La Liga to get closer to the fans,” said La Liga ambassador and former Valencia player Gaizka Mendieta. 

“Unfortunately for LaLiga we expanded late to countries abroad but it’s better late than never, and maybe in the future we can compete with the EPL in terms of funds and money.”

La Liga ambassadors Mendieta and David Albelda are in town with Valencia goalkeepers Mathew Ryan and Jaume Domenech, midfielder Javi Fuego, forward Santi Mina, and manager Rako Ayestaran for a five-day visit, and they will be taking part in a series of community and sporting events till Sunday.

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