Valencia CF’s global growth continues with the opening of a new VCF Academy in Morocco, alongside DK Pro Sports. This new project will feature different programmes for young players and will be based in different cities in the African country, beginning with the first location in the main tourist city of Marrakech.

The club will offer advice and consultation, and the methodology implemented will be that used at the Ciudad Deportiva training facility in Valencia. There will also be campuses and training clinics in several areas of the country, and the players from the different programmes will have the chance to travel to Valencia to undertake sessions in which they will enjoy an experience to that of the Valencia CF first team squad for several days, as well as enjoying the city.

The programme will benefit from the presence of Enzo Aliaga, a UEFA Pro licenced coach who has spent several years at the VCF Academy and will be the head of the project, living in Marrakech. There will also be formative sessions for local coaches at affiliated schools, which will contribute to the development and training of young Moroccan players.

Morocco joins the club’s international network, alongside countries such as Japan (Osaka and Wakayama), USA (New York, Miami, Seattle), Canada, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Estonia and Greece. With these agreements, the club will help to spread its working methodology and project the image of Valencia CF. 

Khalid Chagna, Co-Director and founder of DK Pro Sports, said of the agreement: “Firstly, it is a source of pride to be able to undertake this project alongside a club like Valencia CF. Our intention is to provide young people with the opportunity to develop as footballers with the methodology of Valencia CF, a club characterised by their good work at youth level.

“The characteristics of Moroccan players are very similar to those of Spanish players, but they do not have the same possibilities of developing adequately, and this is something that we want to solve with the experience of Valencia CF. To begin with, the project will start out in Marrakech, but it will expand to other cities such as Casablanca and Safi, with the intention of establishing the VCF Academy as a point of reference in the country on a long-term basis.”

Luis Martinez, Valencia CF Academy Director, added: “As an academy, we are delighted to open this new project in Morocco, the main footballing hotbed in Africa. As a club, we want to help young people to develop under the Valencia CF methodology, in a way that is always tied in to the sporting values that represent us. We thank DK Pro Sports for their commitment to sport, and their decision to join up with Valencia CF as partners in this project.”