The base football It has become an industry with a percentage of GDP equivalent to that of the fishing sector in regions such as the Valencian Community. A business that stopped dead last March with no return date. Child and youth soccer has changed, it is no longer synonymous with neighborhood clubs or linked to professional teams, but has proliferated private schools, colleges, tournaments, and campuses organized by specialized companies, many of them linked to star footballers. A sector of sports leisure for minors that grows stronger every summer, with the capacity to generate more than a million euros and employ a hundred people in a one-week event. Until now. The pandemic has you in limbo.
David Villa announced that he was hanging up his boots in December to become an entrepreneur and run Queensboro, the New York neighborhood football club that he plans to nurture with talent from the permanent schools his company, DV7 Group, has opened all over the world, from Asturias, Puerto Rico or Vancouver to Japan. But the company is also expanding towards organizing summer campuses and international tournaments.
Today, the coronavirus pandemic maintains theschools closed and campuses and tournaments on hold. “In each country it stopped at different times and conditions are different, but we have had to strengthen our programs on-line in which the technicians generate trainings to keep the children active “, he explains Victor Oñate, CEO of DV7 Group. Maintaining the cost of these schools, and the jobs of their coaches, has been the challenge of the past few months. “We have a lot to thank the families, who have understood the situation and have collaborated in keeping the project going. Our centers in Queens (New York) and San Diego have been among the most affected by the health and economic consequences of the epidemic. There are families that will not pay until they return to normal», Explains Oñate.
Fifty trainers who have been displaced in different parts of the planet have not been able to apply ERTE “because that figure does not exist outside of Spain”, and have chosen to agreed salary reductions to lighten costs and try to survive.
The first setback was the cancellation of the Easter tournaments. “They had paid for hotels, travel … so there is part that you can no longer return to families. You have to rely on the goodwill of the providers and try to resume the tournaments when this happens or transform them into other experiences to be able to fulfill the service, “he explains.
Will there be David Villa's summer campus this year? “It will depend on the health authorities and the parents, but we believe that there is still time to make the decision. So far they have not been canceled. Yeah, but … «We don't know when we will be able to do soccer games with children. Perhaps we can adapt them to health indications, albeit with a different methodology, “says Oñate, because it seems clear that around the world champion, a hundred children cannot be placed this summer.
Fernando Brotons also refuses to throw in the towel, although the situation does not invite optimism. Your company, TourSport, has been organizing the Costa Blanca Cup, one of the most prestigious grassroots tournaments in the country together with the Donosti Cup. While the Basque competition has already announced that it will not celebrate its edition, Brotons waits for the de-escalation phases to advance before surrendering.
80% of your company's turnover is generated by this championship: 1.5 million euros. And, although half of its market is lost, it intends to convert it to save the year. Among the 280 teams registered to play the first week of July in Benidorm, there were from all over the world: the United States, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Australia, Japan or Taiwan. «To all those teams we will refund the fees because we already know that they will not come, “he explains.
Those advances had already been earmarked for hotel reservations, transportation and facilities, “who have understood the situation and will return the advances to us.” But his idea is to offer an alternative if the health authorities allow it.
Maybe it could be delayed for a few weeks or challenge that it would be opened to the teams of the place where it is played, without accommodation and under the supervision of the parents. The winner would have a place to go to the next Costa Blanca Cup “, explains Fernando, who prefers not to think about the other alternative, “What is to negotiate with the banks to sustain the business”.
Jorge Vallejo has not had as much compression and is less optimistic. “We are dead,” he admits. I believe Soccer in Events four years ago and organizes, among others, the Torrevieja Cup International, which had dates for the end of June, and the Madrid Youth Cup, scheduled for the last weeks of August. In addition, it sends teams to other tournaments across the country, manages sports facilities and two grassroots soccer clubs in Madrid.
27 people live year round from the performance of tournaments, campuses and schools. «I see it very difficult to be able to maintain the tournaments. After months without training, you can't say that next week we play», He warns. He prepares to return the fees, “but from November or December we are pulling that money from tournaments and campus to pay the payroll.”
In addition, he stands up to the teams of one of his clubs, Moratalaz, who signed up for tournaments such as the Oviedo Cup, Ibercup or Costa Daurada, “who do not return payment or only part of it or tell you that they are staying on deposit for next year ». “We are left with mortgaged money”he laments. At least of the hotels it has obtained the returns, although only after the state of alarm forced them to close. “Then they were the ones who couldn't give the service and there was no doubt. They all paid us less than one in Madrid who doesn't even answer our emails ».
Missed the part of business that comes with the school holidays and the summer, his concern is the schools from September. Has 27 coaches employed, and there are already families that have demanded the refund of the monthly amount since March 13 and the part of the federative file and the mutuality. In addition, Vallejo pays 75,000 euros in fees for the facilities, “and I do not know if they will return it to me from March.” “All the answers are 'maybe.' But if the parents can't take them to school, will they go to soccer in the afternoon?».
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