The United States has long ceased to be an exotic destination in the world of soccer. Little by little, the North American country is gaining weight in the beautiful game and, therefore, some young Spanish promises are beginning to see it as a more than feasible option given the difficulty of succeeding in Europe. To ‘cross the pond’, the help of an intermediary company is almost essential.
One of these companies is AGM which, together with LaLiga and its LaLiga ProPlayer program, are conducting three days of testing at the García de la Mata stadium. so that participants can show their qualities to scouts from a large number of American universities.
This showcase ends today and 30 players have passed through it on Monday, 40 homegrown players from more than twenty LaLiga teams yesterday and a similar number of players from First RFEF, Second RFEF or Honor Division today. The ages of the candidates have ranged from 16 to 20 years old.
PEPE ANDRES (DAILY AS)
For both LaLiga and AGM, “opening a new horizon for these young people is something very positive,” say Óscar González, CEO of the company, and Juan Florit, head of LaLiga’s sports projects department. There are too many stories of promising young people who gambled everything on one card, football, and were left halfway, without a present or a future. Therefore, Florit states: “LaLiga will always support the appearance of programs that facilitate the integration of our promises in a university system of such high level in sports and academics. We are going to open all the doors that we can to our young people.”
88 experiences. That is the number of footballers who, since this program began three years ago, have signed up for universities in the United States.. This year it is estimated that 30 footballers will pack their bags to debut in the 2022-23 season. For each of them AGM has a program, since the process, initiated after filling in a questionnaire from the company, is different depending on whether the applicant comes from a professional quarry or not.
One of these emigrants is Óscar Currás. The current assistant coach of Sacred Heart University, set course for this academic center in 2016, for the moment, not to return. “It has been one of the best experiences of my life and if I have not returned to Spain yet, it is for something,” he said.
Illustrious Spanish football figures such as Real Madrid exporter César Sánchez endorse this initiative. “For me, it is something wonderful that all of us who are part of this sport want our young people to have quality football and academic training”, affirmed to the newspaper AS. Such is the support of the LaLiga ambassador that he did not hesitate to go to García de la Mata to see the process.
PEPE ANDRES (DAILY AS)
In detail
Amount of the scholarship. The selected footballers would receive a scholarship of around $ 30,000-32,000 to cover academic and living expenses.
Well valued. Spanish players, as stated by the American coaches present at the exhibition day, are held in high esteem for their technique and tactical ability.
Fourteen scouts. Up to fourteen American universities traveled to evaluate their future stars. Some of these educational centers are in Florida or New York.
The note matters. Educational institutions require, as a minimum, an academic average of passing. In addition, the amount of the scholarship could vary depending on the footballer’s grades.
More disciplines. AGM not only works with the promises of Spanish football. Any sport that has university competition in the United States is within the entity’s radius of action.