Area: Sevilla FC Coaches Academy

The activity coordinated by the R&D&I Department of Sevilla FC through the Innovation Center never ceases, and last week it was the turn of two youth coaches from the club, Javier Álex and Diego Blanco, who traveled to Gibraltar Camp with the Europa FC Academy. There, they carried a clinic and explained the training methodology followed in Sevilla FC Academy.

Two training sessions, alongside John Moreno, director of the Europa FC Academy, helped the young footballers of the Gibraltarian team and their coaches gain a basic understanding of the main principles followed at Sevilla FC. The sessions were focused on players born between 2006 and 2012 initially, and then between 2013 and 2016.

With this type of activity, one of the main objectives of Sevilla FC’s Innovation Center is fulfilled: to share the knowledge generated through this platform with others. This educational intention is channeled through training programs.

Following several years’ experience within the footballing industry, our Innovation Center was established to share our knowledge with others from all over the globe, covering our methodology, technology and sporting development. Last week, a group of coaches from the Korea Football Association (KFA) completed a training course that covered our key values and principles that run from the academy all the way up to the first team

26 coaches took part in the programme that is offered by the Innovation Center, through the SFC Coaches Academy, to football clubs, federations and associations. The Korean coaches spent seven days in Sevilla, attending talks that covered all sporting departments of the club, such as management, methodology, training sessions, psychology and the incorporation of technology, with examples given to demonstrate the differences between age groups.

During their visit, the group from the KFA attended several of our academy’s training sessions from a variety of both girls and boys’ age groups. The majority of the group were coaches at an under 15 level. They finished the week by attending our home match against Villarreal CF and completing the Stadium Tour.

A delegation of coaches from different categories of the Swedish club Mjällby AIF spent several days undergoing training at the facilities of Sevilla FC. Through the ‘SFC Academy Coaches’ project, the Sevilla-based entity shares all the knowledge and technological tools acquired within its strong commitment to innovation and the establishment of the Innovation Center with other clubs, federations, and associations. In this case, the Swedish coaches attended various technical talks over three days, conducted by responsible individuals from different areas and sports departments of Sevilla FC.

The Swedish delegation received training on physical preparation, scouting, technological innovation, psychological aspects, the functioning of the residence, and training methodology according to age categories. In addition, they observed various youth training sessions on the different fields of the sports city, attended the Youth League match against PSV Eindhoven at the Jesús Navas stadium, and took the Stadium Tour of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.

Led by the press officer, James Wahlberg, a confessed Sevilla fan, they also independently attended the UEFA Champions League and LaLiga matches against PSV and Villarreal, respectively, before returning to Sweden.

Sevilla FC has implemented a work formula in its youth academy based on technological innovation and a methodology that many clubs and federations try to adopt. In this regard, many of them visit the club’s facilities, especially its sports city, to get an inside look at the way of working and the tools that are used. In the last weeks of the past season, it was the Football Federation of the Czech Republic that had this privilege.

The expedition, led by former international player and Atletico Madrid alumnus Radek Bejbl, included around ten coaches who spent three days in Seville, immersing themselves in the innovative way Sevilla FC operates in its youth ranks. They did so through training in which Pablo Blanco and Agustín López, as heads of the youth academy, the then still sporting director, Monchi, and various members of the R&D&I Football department participated. The Czech coaches became acquainted with the youth academy structure, the physical planning carried out in the youth ranks, the general training methodology at different age levels, technology applied to performance improvement, data analysis, the operation of the scouting department, and they attended in-person several training sessions.

“We are very pleased to be able to share our work methodology and training with the Czech Republic Federation. They have highly appreciated the work of the different areas, mainly due to all the knowledge and information available about each player. The goal they have is to enhance their trainers’ coaching of their younger players for improvement in decision-making related to the game,” summarized José Ramón Collado Ripoll, Head of the Football Lab at Sevilla FC.

On the other hand, the head of the Football R&D&I department, José María Cruz Gallardo, explains that “as a youth academy club, Sevilla FC is aware of the importance of developing talent through a high-quality training program inspired by a philosophy of continuous improvement and the constant pursuit of excellence as a way of working. For all these reasons, the club makes the knowledge generated by its professionals over its more than a hundred years of history available to society, and these training visits are a perfect example of that.”