Borja Eroles: “We are happy that the Valencianista family is expanding worldwide”

The VCF Academy management and training model continues to go from strength to strength. The club’s commitment to internationalising the brand and establishing a presence in strategic markets has driven the development of an expansion policy that leads it to now have 14 VCF Academies around the world. The latest additions have been those in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

“What Valencia CF and the club’s Marketing Department are seeking is for the club to be known worldwide, making the brand better known. The more players around the world that wear the Valencia CF shirt, the better. The more family members who follow the latest news about Valencia CF and want to learn about the club, the better,” says Borja Eroles, Head of International Projects.

“Then there is the formative aspect of the Academy: giving young players the tools to develop and improve as footballers -both in terms of becoming professionals and working on their skills. In addition to training footballers, we also train coaches -so that they can continue working with those players,” adds Eroles.

The new VCF Academies in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus reinforce Valencia CF's strategic position in Southeast Europe. “These are projects that we have been working on for some years through a partner, and which have now become official VCF Academies -with all that this entails. We are very happy that the Valencianista family is expanding around the world.”

The headquarters for these three new VCF Academies will be located in the capital cities of the respective countries: Athens, Sofia and Nicosia. Each will have secondary locations, which enable the maximum spreading of Valencia CF’s methodology and image.

“What we try to do is adapt the methodology that we use at the Ciudad Deportiva to each project, depending on the level of football already present in each country,” explains Eroles.

“At these centres we use a good part of the material that is used at the Ciudad Deportiva, in terms of nutrition, psychology, ethical codes etc. We try to extrapolate what we do in Valencia to each international project. That’s what makes the difference compared to other clubs. What we want is to create the biggest ‘Ciudad Deportiva’ in the world.”

To date, 14 academies have been created in various parts of Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, showing the growing interest in the working methodology of the VCF Academy. Last year it was recognised as one of the academies to provide the most players to the world’s 5 major leagues, according to the CIES Football Observatory.

“We compete with many other clubs in Spain and at an international level, but Valencia CF have a brand value which is the VCF Academy. There are many other clubs that have great players or big stars, but that does not mean they are good at training people. Our seal of quality is our training, the VCF Academy, and that is what our partners are looking for. In addition, the objective is not only to improve on the pitch, but also on the personal side: we educate people and train players.”

The idea is to set up VCF Academies throughout all 5 continents, but carefully and maintaining a high quality standard. "The objective is to continue growing, but quantity does not matter as much as quality" assures Eroles. “That is what differentiates the VCF Academy brand: being able to have a close relationship with everyone, having coaches sent to most of the academies, training, traveling, inviting them to Valencia and letting them visit the Ciudad Deportiva and Mestalla… The aim is to open more academies in key countries for the club's strategic and footballing interests. The idea is to continue with these projects.”

The expansion project has had to adapt, of course, to the global uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Obviously now we have some difficulties due to COVID 19, as football cannot be played normally in the lower levels and each country is in a different situation. At those Academies where they have had to stop their activity, we have done a lot of work online. We have still been able to work to officialise the academies in Cyprus, Bulgaria and Greece and we have closed a deal for two academies in South Korea. We must try to take advantage of the circumstances and with the seal of quality that is the VCF Academy,” concludes Eroles.