RIYADH: Valencia FC will hold a training camp, which will include women’s football, in the run up to the Spanish Super Cup tournament, which will be played by the first team.
The aim of the camp will be to develop the academy and improve women’s football in Saudi Arabia following the recent launch of the league championship.
The club will be running the camp in cooperation with Jeddah’s Professional Football Academy, and The Futbol Office.
Ramon Mumbo, technical coordinator of the football programs affiliated to the VFC Soccer Academy Programs, said: “It is a great honor for the Valencia club to be the first to hold a women’s training camp in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“What we want to prove in this camp is that the Valencia Academy is considered one of the most important academies in Europe and the world,” he added.
Valencia B women’s coach, Natalia Garcia, said: “As a woman and a coach, it gives me great pleasure to help women who want to play football in Saudi Arabia.”
Mumbo and Garcia will be taking part in the Saudi camp.
More than 40 players
More than 40 players have registered for the women’s football camp to be held at the Waad Academy in Jeddah, where players will participate and become acquainted with the football curricula at the Valencia Academy.
Mumbo said: “We will show everything we do at the Valencia Academy, where we will carry out practical sessions with the players, and training sessions with male and female technicians who are interested in learning about the methods used in the Valencia club.”
Bet on women
The camp will be the first of its kind to be run by Valencia in Saudi Arabia, reflecting the club’s commitment to equality and the empowerment of women under the terms of an accord signed between club president, Chan Lay Hoon, and the UN.
The Valencia club reached the final stage of the European Club Association awards competition through its investment in women’s football and the integration of all age groups in the Valencia Academy.
Supporting women’s football in the Middle East
During the three-day camp, male and female players of all ages will have the opportunity to learn on-field skills according to the working methodology of the Valencia Academy, one of the leading academies in Europe in the formation of elite players, according to the International Center for Sports Studies’ Football Observatory.
The Valencia camp in the Kingdom represents the first step in the club’s mission to develop women’s football in several Middle Eastern countries on similar lines to academies in Seattle and Houston, in the US, Canada, and Greece, among others.
Valencia Football Academy programs
The camps organized by the club in different countries around the world are part of the football programs of the Valencia Academy, which together with the Valencia Football Academy sponsors the club in strategic locations in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and is based on the expansion of the brand around the world.
The club’s global promotion strategy has reached the finals of the FIFA World Summit Awards 2022.
The main objective of Valencia Academy football programs, in addition to promoting Valencia’s image and philosophy worldwide, is to allow participants to learn from the best professional technicians in the academy.
