Area: Sevilla FC Coaches Academy

Alexie Kolowrat, player of the first women’s team and coach of the U-15 team, expressed deep gratitude for this experience: “I hope to take a lot of knowledge back home across different coaching categories. Not just the technical aspects of organizing training sessions and that sort of thing, but also everything outside of training, like recovery and match analysis, and those things we can start to implement in our club.”

The player and coach highlighted the importance of addressing areas that are often overlooked in emerging clubs: “As a coach, it will help me see how to implement some of these things on a smaller scale, but still figure out how we can use them and focus on aspects we hadn’t fully considered before.”

Kolowrat also emphasized the importance Sevilla FC places on details, a factor she considers crucial both for her development as a coach and her role as a player: “It has been very helpful to see the amount of attention given here to different aspects that people sometimes overlook. Here, they focus on every detail, and you can see the big impact of doing the little things right. As a player, it has shown me that you really need to give 100% in everything, not just in football, but also in psychology and everything off the pitch.”

The Coaches Academy program provided Kolowrat and other participants access to top-tier resources and the opportunity to interact with experts in disciplines such as data analysis, physiology, sports psychology, and team management. According to Alexie, this experience represents a unique opportunity to apply what she has learned to the Prague Raptors: “It’s a very enriching experience that they should definitely take advantage of if they have the chance, because the resources here are very valuable, with experts in different disciplines.”

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.