Mestalla is a common intended destination for all the boys and girls of the VCF Academy and the 41 affiliated schools that are part of the VCF Escoles project. As such, it was the meeting point to kick off the fourth season for the project, in which four new schools are incorporated to continue expanding scouting in the Valencia and Murcia regions, and share the working methodology of the VCF Academy -one of the 5 best academies in Europe according to the last two reports by the CIES Football Observatory.

Representatives of the 41 VCF Escoles in a welcoming ceremony that was attended by the Directorate of the VCF Academy: Sean Bai, Marco Otero and Luis Martínez; and the president of Valencia CF, Anil Murthy.

New schools in the VCF project are: Unión Imposibles-Betero CF, CF Ciudad Alcoy, CdF Canet and Unión Archena FC.

“What stands out about the Escoles project is how close we are to the schools, seeing what happens within them, and moving to a presencial format. There are going to be many visits to the Ciudad Deportiva by those in charge of the schools. We are following the same strategy of instilling passion for Valencia CF in every location and every school where we have a presence.

We are focused on training coaches and providing other aspects that the schools need. Above all, we are focused on improving players on a daily basis, to detect their talent early on,” explains Ramón Mompó, head of VCF Escoles. Together with José Antonio Camacho and David Guillamón, he will carry out the monitoring programme and keep in contact with the 41 affiliated schools throughout the academic year.

For this season, the main novelty is the return to face-to-face activities, which was largely interrupted due to the recent health crisis. VCF Academy coach visits will return to schools, alongside online training sessions, clinics, and activities at the Ciudad Deportiva, plus various tournaments.

At the beginning of the welcoming ceremony, each of the schools received a gift from Valencia CF, in gratitude for their collaboration with the VCF Escoles programme. A group picture was also taken together on the pitch at Mestalla.