Author: Innovation Center

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Sevilla FC strengthens its ties with Saudi football

We were able to experience the nature of football in Saudi Arabia first hand by visiting the country during the LALIGA FC Futures tournament last week. Held at the Mahd Academy, our Under-14s A Team performed brilliantly, finishing runners-up.

The visit was used to create strategic relationships with football clubs and institutions in the country. The club took full advantage of the LALIGA FC Futures tournament being held in the country to organise meetings with local clubs and institutions.

In addition, in line with our educational philosophy, our representatives were able to present our Innovation Center projects to Dr. Yahya Alsharif from the King Saud University. With the possibility of holding joint studies in mind, the differences between young players’ development in Saudi Arabia and Spain were discussed and evaluated.

We previously visited Saudi Arabia back in December 2023 to take part in the World Football Summit. On that occasion, Jesús Arroyo, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and Elías Zamora, Chief Data Officer, travelled to Jeddah to represent the club. They spoke about our successes with technological innovation and discussed the Innovation Center’s goal to share our knowledge and experience to educate clubs and institutions around the world. 

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Elías Zamora showedcased the Sevilla FC´s tecnology innovation at the Mobile World Congress

We continue to lead the way as pioneers in the industry, committed to using data, AI and technological innovation as part of our operations, on both the sporting and business sides. In an event supported by IBM and the Financial Times, Zamora discussed the club’s ongoing technology projects.

He participated in two presentations at the event; the first was titled ‘How are mobile phones and AI changing the sporting industry?’ It was hosted by Financial Times journalist Javier Espinoza while Kevin Farrar, Head of Sports Partnerships UK at IBM, was also involved..

As part of the ‘How is AI changing tactical decision making?’ presentation, Zamora addressed industry leaders and managers of big technology and sports companies, discussing the decision-making tools that have been developed and implemented at the club. Special focus was given to Scout Advisor, which was developed alongside IBM, using their Watsonx generative AI system.

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International leaders in pitch maintenance and sustainability

One of the club’s many areas of expertise is pitch maintenance, where Sevilla FC have an international example for several decades thanks to an innovative approach. Carlos Venegas, the club’s head groundsman, has been central to this success and recently added four new members to prominent roles in the organisation of pitch sustainability events. 

Last October, Venegas was invited by the Bulgarian Golf Greenkeepers Association (BGGA) to its annual congress, held in Sofia, where he presented the club’s strategy, centred on maximising water resources and moving away from the use of pesticides. As a club, we are involved in various research programs with the University of Sevilla which promote the use of environmentally-friendly biological products, an issue that Carlos Venegas also spoke about at a major event held in Paris in November, the ’24h du Garzon Sport Pro,’ where he was joined by representatives from Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

Similar issues were also addressed at the end of 2023 at the Annual Congress of the Spanish Greenkeepers Association, held in Jerez de la Frontera. At this event, Sevilla FC again played a leading role in discussions on pitch maintenance and sustainability. The club has recieved international recognition for years thanks to the implementation of a strategy based on the use of two types of plants, one for summer and one for winter, a key decision given the intensity of the climate in Sevilla. Moreover, in recent years, the club has stood out for the use of a type of a new grass type that reduces water consumption by more than 30%, a crucial factor due to the perpetual threat of drought in the region. 

At the start of 2024, Carlos Venegas was once again asked by the Sports Fields Manager Association to participate in the ‘Congreso Americano de Superficies de Céspedes’ in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event discussed the latest turfs being used and new techniques in maintenance, machinery and digitalisation of sports fields. One of the main seminars talked about designing pitches and drainage systems capable of hosting future World Cup matches. Also, Venegas had the opportunity to visit the state-of-the-art facilities at Inter Miami, sharing experience and knowledge.

Finally, Vanegas went to Milan in February to speak at the MYPLANT & GARDEN event. The club’s maintenance programme is being looked at by clubs all over Europe as the perfect example of how to treat the pitch in hot conditions, with high temperatures becoming more common across the world.

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Sevilla FC strengthens its relationship with institutions and the world of football in Morocco

Sevilla Football Club continues to strengthen its ties with Morocco. The first vice president, José Castro, has visited the country this week, taking advantage of the participation of one of our youth teams in the AMF Tournament Sub-19 organized by the Mohammed VI Football Academy. The club has sought to delve deeper into the local football scene, which in recent years has forged strong emotional ties due to the sporting successes achieved at our club by players like Youssef En-Nesyri, Yassine Bono, and Munir El-Haddadi.

The visit has served to consolidate the relationship with this neighboring country through a meeting with the president of Union Sportive Yacoub El Mansour, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid. The vice president also held a meeting with his counterpart from Sporting Club Casablanca, Amine Benjelloun, the recent runner-up of the CAF Women’s Champions League, and discussions began on the possibility of a friendly match between our women’s first teams. Additionally, a visit was made to Mohammed V University in Rabat. In all these meetings, possible lines of collaboration between Sevilla and Morocco in various fields were outlined.

Furthermore, Sevilla has also been able to firsthand experience the facilities of the Football Academy and the Mohammed VI residence where the AMF Tournament Sub-19 was held, which has become a High-Performance Center for player development. It’s worth noting that Youssef En-Nesyri, who lends his name to one of the football fields in this complex, took his first sporting steps here. The presence of Sevilla FC has generated significant media coverage in the country, where various media outlets are covering the development of the Sub-19 Tournament, which is being broadcast on the public television channel STNR. STNR has also produced a report on the connections and common projects of the club with Morocco. In fact, Sevilla is increasingly gaining a larger group of supporters in the country, with almost 1.3 million Moroccan followers across our various social media profiles.

In purely sporting terms, Sevilla’s youth team B had a notable participation in the AMF Tournament Sub-19, reaching the semifinals where only penalties against Ajax prevented them from reaching the final. Previously, they had defeated Aspire Academy from Qatar, Liverpool in the group stage, and RC Strasbourg in the quarterfinals.

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Training day at Sevilla FC facilities with students from LaLiga Business School

Events are unfolding at various facilities of Sevilla FC, both at their main stadium, the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, and at the José Ramón Cisneros Palacios Sports City. Specifically, this week, a training day was held at the Carretera de Utrera premises by LaLiga Business School, which was specially moved to the Andalusian capital for the occasion.

The modern facilities of the Jesús Navas Stadium primarily hosted sessions for two of the master’s degrees offered by LaLiga Business School: the Master’s in Football Management, Methodology, and Analysis, and the Master’s in Performance Optimization and Health. A total of 42 students from both courses enjoyed an exceptional day at the Sports City, where they attended conferences, toured the facilities, and had lunch. Among other activities, the students had the opportunity to attend sessions led by Víctor Orta, the sporting director of Sevilla FC, and Emilio de Dios, the club’s Scouting Manager. To conclude the day, they moved to the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán for a Stadium Tour, which delighted all attendees.

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Ticket Raffle for the Launch of the`IV SPORTS DATA FORUM´

Sevilla FC, through its Innovation Center, in collaboration with Sports Data Campus and the University of Murcia (UCAM), is once again organizing the ‘Sports Data Forum,’ an increasingly rooted event focused on the use of data in sports. This fourth edition will also have a mixed format, alternating between in-person and online sessions, although the entire event will be fully streamed.

The online sessions will take place from March 25th to June 26th, with the inaugural session on March 21st at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán stadium, featuring an in-person session where the President of Sevilla FC, José María del Nido Carrasco, will officially welcome the attendees. For this inauguration, the Innovation Center will raffle off 100 tickets among Sevilla FC members and season ticket holders who register through this LINK.

Football and sports are undergoing significant evolution due to digital transformation, the use of Big Data, and Advanced Analytics, areas in which Sevilla FC is an international reference. Throughout the IV edition of the ‘Sports Data Forum,’ various presentations and roundtable discussions will be held on topics such as professional game analysis or the latest trends in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence applied to football. Until its closure in June, speakers from elite national and international sports, data analysis, and R&D areas of clubs, as well as various professionals from Sevilla FC, will have participated.

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The Sevilla FC´S commitment to Innovation, exposed at “Sportbiz” in Mexico.

On February 7th and 8th, Mexico City hosted the Latin American Sports Business Congress, one of the most important events in all of Latin America regarding the sports industry. Among the attendees was Sevilla FC, an international reference in technological innovation. Representing the club was Juan Esteban Gómez Llamas, Head of Digitalization and Continuous Improvement, who participated in a panel titled ‘Innovation and Digital Transformation: Reinventing the Rules of the Game.’

Throughout each season, Sevilla FC is often invited to prominent sports industry conferences, especially those related to innovation. One of the club’s strategic pillars lies precisely in its Innovation Center, a meeting point for all the technological initiatives of the club and a platform where a wide range of training related to this subject is offered.

For instance, Sevilla FC has recently launched a new course, the Master’s in Innovation and Technology for Sports Entities. This training is available not only to football professionals but to any individual in the technology or sports industry who wishes to delve into the transformation processes of sports entities based on innovation and technology.

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Winners of the III Blasco Garzón Awards Chosen

The ‘Sevilla FC Chair: University, Business, and Sports’ at Pablo de Olavide University (UPO) will mark a significant event on March 7th. This occasion will witness the presentation of the Blasco Garzón Awards, with the winners for the III edition already selected following the opening of the submission period on November 20th. Numerous submissions from various faculties have been received, and the jury’s decision can be accessed here.

Through its Innovation Center, Sevilla FC acknowledges the excellence of the best Bachelor’s and Master’s Final Projects presented by students enrolled at UPO, both in official degrees and continuing education. With this initiative, the club aims to promote study, initiation into research, and knowledge transfer in various fields of knowledge, fulfilling the primary objectives of its Innovation Center.

The award ceremony, scheduled for March 7th, will commence at 12:30 PM in the press room of Pablo de Olavide University.

The Manuel Blasco Garzón Award pays tribute to the memory of the former president of Sevilla FC, under whose tenure the entity achieved significant sporting successes and remarkable social and institutional advances. Additionally, he was instrumental in integrating a young man named to script the best pages in the club’s history: Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. Blasco Garzón was a prominent figure in the social and cultural life of Seville, serving, among other positions, as president of the Ateneo de Sevilla and promoting projects aimed at enhancing cultural levels in neighborhoods and contributing to citizen education, thus aiding in the fight against illiteracy.

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Sevilla FC, the european club with the most growth in 2023 on China´s most important social network

We continue to reap the rewards of our firm commitment to the internationalisation of the club. 2023 has been a particularly fruitful year in terms of one of the most populated countries in the world, China.

The club’s account on Weibo, the most popular social network in China, acquired more than 500,000 new followers in 2023. This brought the total number of Chinese fans following Sevilla to 1,285,000, and that number has since surpassed 1.3 million in the first few weeks of 2024.

In 2023, we grw 64% on Weibo, a percentage that underlines our position as the club that has grown the most in the last calendar year on this social network, ahead of clubs such as PSG, Barcelona, Tottenham, Roma, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Monaco, Real Sociedad and Borussia Dortmund. Our growth on Weibo over the past two years is 117% and, in 2023, all metrics in terms of post impact grew compared to 2022, and was the account’s best year since its inception.

Meanwhile, the progression on China’s social networks also extends to the video platform, Douyin, where the club’s account has almost reached 150,000 followers. By adding the followers on both platforms, we are now the Spanish team with the fourth-most followers in China after Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, with accounts on  Weibo and Douyin, and also on Wechat. 

Our growth on the main social networks in China can also be explained thanks to a strategy based on local content with nods to local culture and customs, collaborations with local influencers and the production of live programmes with native presenters who bring the daily happenings of Sevilla closer to the fans in the Asian country. 

As a sign of this, we are planning to develop several special initiatives in February to commemorate the Chinese New Year. To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Dragon, the club will organise several special events to wish its Chinese fans the best during the match against Atlético de Madrid on Sunday 11th February.

The growth in digital platforms is only part of the work that we has been doing in China. Since March 2023, it has been working with ISS (International School Services) and are active at the Shekou International School in Shenzhen, China, where sports coaches carefully selected and trained by the club offer extracurricular activities to students, following the club’s exclusive methodology of talent development and training. They expect to finish the season with twice as many players in their different teams. As part of the programme, tournaments are also planned and a new Summer Camp will be held this summer.

Commercially we also have three official regional sponsors in China for the current 2023-2024 season: 1717, Kubet and Nova 88, which further strengthen our ties with the country’s football industry.

We encourage all our fans to get to know the culture of China better with the Spring Festival Gala broadcast by CMG this Friday starting at 1:00 PM Spain time through this link. Recognised by the Guinness World Records as the most-watched television program worldwide, this gala has become a cultural celebration that spreads the spirit and joy of the New Year celebration among Chinese communities worldwide.

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New Innovation Center Website and Launch of the Master´s Degree in Innovation and Technology

Talking about technology and football means talking about Sevilla FC. The club, which has been at the forefront of technological innovation in football for years, uses its Innovation Center as a hub for all the innovation that Sevilla FC offers the world of sport, as a result of the promotion and development of R&D+i projects that allow the club to respond to the new trends and demands of consumers in the sector. The Center now has a new website, sevillafcinnovationcenter.com, which is now a modern, easy-to-navigate space that will allow knowledge to be shared, offer content and develop talent through a wide range of academic activities.

The launch of this new website coincides with the launch of a new training programme that the Sevilla FC Innovation Center, together with UCAM (Catholic University of Murcia) and the Sports Data Campus, is making available not only to professionals in football, but also to any profile in the world of technology or sport who wishes to delve into the processes of transformation of sports entities based on innovation and technology. This is the Master’s Degree in Innovation and Technology for Sports Entities, different to all those offered to date and which will allow students to acquire the most cutting-edge knowledge on the subject, as well as offering practical content due to Sevilla FC’s own infrastructure. Enrolment is now available on the website.

The Sevilla FC Innovation Center offers a range of academic training in different disciplines related to sport and, specifically, football. Two training courses are currently active, the Master in Sports Law applied to Football and the Master in Big Data applied to Scouting . All the details about both courses are now available on the new Sevilla FC Innovation Center website. The Degree will also be available in English from October.

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The Sevilla FC Innovation Center is now an authorized sports education center

The Innovation Center of Sevilla FC will be able to provide special sports education as it has received official authorization as an Authorized Sports Education Center. In this way, it will be able to offer post-compulsory studies with a variable duration depending on the degree and sports modality, aimed at preparing students for professional activity at different levels and specialties, with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop their work as sports technicians in the specialty of football.

These titles are the only official academic qualifications recognized in the sports field, replacing the previous training for sports coaches and monitors, with academic and professional validity throughout the national territory. They are offered by authorized private sports education centers (CAED) and by the Andalusian Institute of Sport (IAD). They also offer the possibility of direct entry into university studies if one holds the title of Senior Sports Technician. Regarding football, the Sevilla FC Innovation Center will be able to provide various coaching courses, granting students a valid qualification to practice as such throughout the national territory. Consequently, it will allow the club to train the coaches of the future, who will receive a theoretical-practical learning experience within the context of a professional elite football club.

This is another step in the growth of this platform where all the innovation proposals that Sevilla FC offers to the world of sports converge, as a result of the promotion and development of R&D&I projects, and a demonstration of the club’s commitment to the development of talent and professional profiles of all those who wish to train and improve their skills with the Sevilla FC seal.

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The President and the CEO of Gangwon visit Sevilla FC

Sevilla Football Club continues to strengthen ties with Gangwon FC. The president of the Korean club, Kim Byung-ji, and its general director, Kim Tae Joo, made an official visit last weekend in which they could get to know the club and its working methodology more closely. A new step in an agreement that once again shows Sevilla FC’s commitment to the club’s internationalization process.

“We believe that this collaboration agreement with Sevilla FC, which has a lot of football knowledge, will be an important step in bringing positive advances in terms of management and the philosophy of our club,” explained the highest authority of the Korean club. The president of Sevilla FC, José María del Nido Carrasco, received both leaders in the honor box of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán and presented them with a jersey signed by the entire squad and a souvenir of the visit. They also attended the authorities’ box during the 22nd round of LaLiga against Osasuna and participated in the customary pre-match directors’ meal. They also had the opportunity to greet some of the first team players like Sergio Ramos.

“It is an honor to be able to work hand in hand with Gangwon FC. I am sure that this agreement will allow both entities to grow, which share a determined commitment to growth based on technological development and young talent. We are talking about a club, Sevilla FC, which is a technological reference in the world of football, and a country, South Korea, which according to recent studies is a world leader in innovation and digital technologies. This is a decisive step in our Internationalization Plan,” assured the president of Sevilla.

“The most significant thing has been that we have been able to know the vision that the club has for its new projects such as the training of international players, courses in different areas of club management, and I take away a good feeling and ideas for the future of Gangwon FC,” highlighted his Korean counterpart. Within the visit itself, the two leaders also held working meetings at the José Ramón Cisneros Palacios Sports City, where they learned firsthand about the day-to-day life of the club and its facilities, and plans were also drawn up for training both players and employees of Gangwon.

“Sevilla FC has more than 100 years of history, and has great achievements in its record, such as its 7 Europa League trophies. It has followed a long journey of progress in different aspects such as player development and club management. We hope that Gangwon FC can also follow a similar growth trajectory, and that our employees can learn a lot by visiting Sevilla FC in the future,” assured the president, who was a professional goalkeeper and represented South Korea in the memorable 2002 World Cup. Likewise, the representatives of the Asian entity learned all the details of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán and showed great interest in the construction process of the new stadium planned for 2026. For its part, Gangwon wanted to take advantage of the visit to explain to Sevillistas what their club is like: “Gangwon FC was founded in 2008 and is a club that represents the province of Gangwon. Our goal is to grow and contribute to the unity of our province’s citizens. And we hope to improve talent development hand in hand with Sevilla FC, and that our young players can unleash their potential thanks to this collaboration.”

In Korean football, the visit made by Sevilla for the preseason in 2022 left a mark, so much so that they consider it a turning point in attracting new clubs to their country to carry out this type of concentration: “The impression that Korean fans have of Sevilla FC is that it is a historic, renowned club. Sevilla FC made a great impact in Korea on the tour two years ago, and that made more renowned clubs visit Korea. We hope that something similar can be repeated in the future.”