“The home player will make us stronger and the one who comes from abroad will make us better”

The Real Sociedad model is already taught in schools and beyond the borders of Gipuzkoa. Given the success of these latest campaigns, hand in hand with Jokin Aperribay, Roberto Olabe e Imanol Sheriff, the management of the txuri urdin club, which places the academy as the base of the pyramid, is an example for other entities and a way of learning for those who want to become football directors or managers. Thus, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of signings and departures, Olabe gave a presentation entitled “Real Sociedad: development of talent” for the Royal Spanish Football Federation, addressed to the students of the third edition of the ‘Superior University Course for Sports Directors in Football’.

The sports director of Real said that the Cup title serves to “reinforce ideas” and “gives credibility to projects” and that the quarry is not “a bet for Real”, but rather its “model of identity” and its “pyramidal base”. He launches a phrase that sums it all up: “The home player will make us stronger and the one who comes from outside will make us better”.

RFEF interview with Olabe

What is the secret of the success of the Real, which wants to consolidate itself by competing in Europe year after year?
The secret to the success of any project lies in the balance between the management model and the development model, taking into account the identity of the club. There is no doubt that for Real Sociedad having a sustainable project gives it stability, which is the basis for possible success. Success itself is not assured, it is a consequence.
What key ideas, based on your experience, have you wanted to reinforce with the students of the RFEF’s Higher University Course for Sports Directors in Soccer?
The first idea is that they contextualize where they are going to carry out their sports management work, taking into account the history and social impact of the place where they work. From there, they can propose the sports club management model that they deem appropriate. The culture of the club will be decisive in its development. A club that has an owner or a president or a management group is not the same. Have a guiding gaze, a common thread between the identity model, the management model and the sports development model. To arrive, even as we do in the Real, to establish a game model. No project can be extrapolated to another place in the same way.
The course is being carried out by professional players, coaches… why do you consider the training to play the role of Sports Director in an important club despite the knowledge of football in other facets?
Perhaps we should be self-critical and observe that those of us who arrived in the world of management within the clubs are more related to what we did as players than with our experience in sports management. Starting from this base, we should establish a training itinerary that prepares us as well as possible to manage budgets, operations and people… something that requires will, ability, but of course knowledge of so many transversal areas that exist in the world of sport management. a soccer club.
How did winning the Copa del Rey title change in your day-to-day life?
The titles come to reinforce the ideas, give credibility to the projects. That title is part of a trajectory in which the club continues to grow and the team improves. It strengthens the ideals that it is possible to work with young people, from the academy, to even be able to aspire against other models, budgets, clubs.
A successful career and that was recognized, a few days ago, with the award for ‘Sports Evolution 2022’, what does this mean for the figure of the sports director?
Any award, punctual at a specific moment, we have to see it from the perspective of the trajectory. If we believe that the awards are the result of something temporary, we may not have a project look. For us the most important thing is, if we talk about stability, the trajectory. It is the third time in a decade that we have received an award like this, that has to reinforce our ideals and project. It forces us to give him the importance of player development from the academy to our first teams.
Bet on the quarry, in cases like Zubieta’s, what can you bring extra to the team? Roots, identity…
The Royal Society does not bet on the quarry. In its identity model it is clear that the quarry is its pyramidal base. It is not a moment or something eventual, it is something structural that comes from the conviction. The home player will make us stronger and the one who comes from abroad will make us better.
Is the introduction of technology changing a lot when it comes to recruiting soccer players?
Technology in the development process, like competition, is going to be a means, never an end. Technology helps you to have more information, to know a little more certain details about young players. It is undoubtedly a necessary tool, but let’s not forget that people continue to hold the key. Both the boys who arrive, as well as the people who accompany their development of talent in our structure.