After redesigning its facilities, the investment of which amounted to more than 20,000 US dollarsJuventus Academy Sports Club He seeks to bring Colombian talent closer to the brand.
Juan Manuel Bedoya, General Manager and President of the Juventus Academy Sports Club in the country, Licensed by the Juventus International Academy Project, she spoke about the revival of the sports academy and its plans to promote women’s football.
(See: Female pilots, about 10% of captains in the nation’s airlines.)
How was the academy activated?
We were a union that was not affected like other economic sectors, as measures were taken and protocols adopted in the midst of the pandemic that were put in place in the last week of October 2020.
Although the first semester of 2021 saw boys, girls, and young adults return to our academy, 45% of our former enrollees did not. However, at the end of last year and in the first quarter of 2022, we had a 100% recovery, which is a very important fact for us.
How long has the academy been operating in the country?
The Juventus Academy project at the international level is a line of business promoted by the Italian team, Juventus, from the international marketing and licensing area. To date, it has had the opportunity to make a positive impact in more than 32 countries. The academy has been in Bogotá since 2016 and we have been operating for 6 years, which has allowed us to train more than 1000 players, and today we have 250 active players.
Juan Manuel Bedoya, General Manager and President of the Juventus Academy Sport Club in the country.
Of this total, how many correspond to boys and how many girls?
Since 2019, we have been doing a very important campaign to promote and promote women’s football in the country, although the pandemic affected our plans a little, since we were promoting 60 scholarships, we resumed this work. We are doing very well. Our academy today is made up of 85% boys and 15% girls, in addition to our 17 classes, two classes dedicated to women’s football.
(See: Amazon buys a medical services company.)
How have you been promoting the women’s soccer classes?
We are fans and promoters of women’s soccer and events like the Copa América Femenina itself have stimulated this interest among girls and teens to enjoy soccer. Today we see more affinity and motivation on the part of girls to participate in football academies. However, this started to be evident from a very young age, that today we even have girls from four to five years old up to 20 years old participating in our classes.
From what age can boys and girls participate?
since three years. We have an induction phase of three to five years and up to 20 years, on a high-performance project, which allows us to look for alternatives so that talent can access university scholarships, both locally and internationally.
How is the grant project?
We currently have an agreement that is being promoted with Sergio Arboleda University. Internationally, we work with a company called Sport Legends based in Cali, and what that company does is follow those players who are interested in promoting in the United States. It is very important to have parental support in this process. It should be noted that this company promoted 80 talents currently in the United States.
(See: Opening times per week).
What is your new experience center all about?
Part of our responsibility, as an international licensor, is that children, youth, parents and future customers have the opportunity to feel close to our brand. At the team headquarters in Italy we have a comprehensive administrative, sports and experience center, where the stadium, museum, product store, medical district, administrative areas and sports complex are located. What we have done is take this experience to our headquarters in Bogotá.
What can be found when visiting the center?
We have a corporate room that integrates a multimedia area where visitors can enjoy matches, we have a museum gallery where the awards for the best Juventus trophies have been shown, in addition, we have an area displaying shirts signed by the most representative players.
The headquarters of the Juventus Academy Sports Club in Bogotá includes nine football fields for each team, a small pitch and new facilities, which include administrative areas and areas to enjoy experiences with the brand. Likewise, this headquarters is expected to become a “home” The first edition of the 2022 Juventus American Academy Cup. This tournament is expected to receive in Colombia teams from Canada, the United States, Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the countries in which the Juventus international project was developed, in addition to a special invitation from Juventus Scuola Calcio from Italy.
(See: 17 Colombian companies in the list of the best in the world 2022).
Johanna Lordoy
Journalists’ portfolio
