The VCF Foundation Training Centre celebrates its first decade

Ten years ago, on May 14th, 2009, we inaugurated the VCF Foundation Training Centre. It was a demonstration of our clear commitment to training people in the field of sports management, specifically football.

Our Training Centre, currently overseen by the ESBS European Sport Business School, has made our Master in International Sports Management course the best sports management programme in Spain over the last two years. In 2018 it was named as the third best programme in Europe and 13th in the world, according to British publication Sports Business, ahead of institutions such as Georgetown University, Ohio State University, UEM Real Madrid and the Johan Cruiff Institute.

The Masters course has been attended by 206 students of 25 different nationalities during its ten editions. Some Valencia CF players have combined their day job as elite athletes with enrollment in the programme, including Carlos Marchena and Natalia Gaitán, whilst other former alumni are the likes of current VCF Academy director Luis Martínez and figures now employed by clubs and organisations and institutions such as LaLiga, UEFA, Paris Saint Germain, Valencia Basket and Equelite Juan Carlos Ferrero, among others.

The Centre has also developed programmes to educate about the History of Valencia CF, taken by 418 students.

Since its inauguration in 2009, the Training Centre has used new technologies and online training to take it to all four corners of the globe. Some 1,702 students from 38 nationalities have been taught football training methodology, with a focus on women's football and football for people with intellectual disabilities.

Likewise, a commitment to social responsibility and sustainable development has resulted in initiatives such as Valencia CF Zero Emissions, where the Club's ecological footprint was calculated and a Sustainability Action Plan was carried out.

Internally, the Centre facilitates language learning for a total of 546 employees, who have received lessons at the Club's offices, at the Ciudad Deportiva and at the centre's headquarters, located in the VCF Foundation building.

As announced by Valencia CF president Anil Murthy at the opening ceremony of the current academic year, in 2019-202 the Centre will run a first edition of the Master in International Sports Management entirely in English, as well as a second edition of the ExecutiveSports Law Programme -directed by sports lawyer Juan de Dios Crespo and boasting the participation of internationally recognised lawyers in the field.