Spain creates school

Euro Soccer Camp MX is an idea that emerged two years ago from a child's dream: “Grandpa, I want to be a professional soccer player, like Messi and Cristiano. What can I do?” I ask Thiago, hoping to get an answer. Augustine Robert did not know what to answer. His grandson had left him speechless, but with an exciting challenge ahead: to make his dream come true. The work of some Spanish technicians in the US reached his ears and he got down to work to move the project to Mexico. EuroSoccer Camp MX It was born from Agustín's determination to answer Thiago's question. Grandpa created the association, but it has been Paco Lobato and his team who have shaped his grandson's wish.

Since Real Madrid, Barça, Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla put Spanish football in the showcase, the world began to admire the style that was cooked in our borders. While the general public cheered for Casillas, Xavi and Iniesta, the managers noticed who shaped those figures when their heads and legs were still struggling over what decision to make. The coaches became an object of desire so that from their knowledge the raw material that remained hidden in continents such as the American one could be discovered. Paco Lobato, Atlético de Madrid's youth soccer coach for 25 years, has been one of the technicians who have transferred 'the method' on the other side of the pond, although for him there is no specific methodology, but a cocktail with the best of each house. Exporting the Spanish formula is the germ of the project, but for the coaching staff that develops it, dribbling in confined spaces has the same importance as values ​​such as humility, respect and camaraderie.

Lobato has visited countries like the US, where he has been taking technical courses for eight years, Argentina, Uruguay, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Bulgaria and now Mexico, to instill the methodology with which he has won leagues and that has dazzled children and scouts: “Compete, compete, compete and compete.” In EuroSoccer Camp MX He works as a sports director, where they accompany him Jonathan Sesma, former player of Cádiz and Valladolid, and three coaches of the lower categories of Atlético Madrid as Javi Banos, Ángel Mejías and Jose María Nombela. Each one focuses on a specific aspect of the game, except Lobato, who in addition to instructing, manages the training sessions and supervises its operation dressed in the colors of the Spanish National Team or Atlético de Madrid.

Teach to learn

EuroSoccer Camp MX is the company that organizes and names a series of high-performance soccer camps that take place in different cities of Mexico. For five days, Paco and his team immerse themselves in technical training sessions aimed at individual and collective technique, tactics, technique or physical preparation with players between 8 and 20 years old. The objective is to attract talent, train it and export it. In addition to giving them the opportunity to learn, Lobato is looking for players who “exceed what we already have in Spain.” The campus grants scholarships to the best with a trip to our country to take tests in the quarries of clubs such as Atlético de Madrid and be able to win a position. The aid is extended to the juvenile age, where Lobato selects 14 players and 14 players to play the international youth soccer tournaments of which he is director in the Canary Islands. Regarding the future of young people, Lobato does not doubt that he who makes a space to go to Spain has wood, because If something characterizes the Mexican player, it is his “ambition to learn”, despite the fact that their weak points are concentrated in tactics, an aspect that weighs them down when moving around the field.

The pandemic delayed the start-up of the camps, but after its inauguration last December and its continuation in this month of July, young people from Celaya, Mexico City, Veracruz and Ciudad del Carmen have been able to see how their dreams and those of Thiago were one step closer. “It is a great satisfaction to detect talents and see them progress because we love what we do, but also seeing the reception we have is wonderful. They like the way we lead and train”, emphasizes Lobato when he takes stock of the experience that he promises to repeat in December and in 2022 in Mexico and the United States. EuroSoccer Camp MX has been a success, fruit of the commitment and enthusiasm of the hundreds of young people who tread the fields every week with the aim of being the references of the next generation. They are the engine of the project. The fuel is Paco Lobato, Jonathan Sesma, Javi Baños, Ángel Mejías and Jose María Nombela, that give way to that desire and that exemplify how the passion for football has no borders.