Dubai: The quest to discover possibly the first major professional footballer from the UAE who can star overseas took another step forward when du FC tied up with La Liga to announce the du La Liga High Performance Centre on Thursday.
Attended by former Spanish stars Michel Salgado and Fernando Sanz, the first of its kind high-performance centre will witness a training ground for future national, regional and international professional footballers who will be scouted through the du Football Champions platform.
The du Football Champions (duFC) – the nation’s official Schools’ Cup and Street’s Cup event – will kick-off with preliminary round matches from Saturday, with the culmination of the nation-wide final on March 19.
“We are working really hard to discover talent here as I truly believe we can find a player anywhere. Football is not only just about clubs. It is not just about the Messis and the Ronaldos. The first step is to go out and discover talent. This is more difficult and it will take long, but at least we are trying to push to create something for the future in this country,” Salgado said at the announcement.
No details of where the centre will be or when it will open were confirmed at the announcement, but the Spanish star added: “Our second target is our kids, who are our future and with this programme we want to create and secure our future. I was in Sharjah, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi, and the next week I will be in Dubai. Everywhere I went I could feel the excitement and the chance we are giving these kids to enjoy a competition. These values are important as we want complete education for our kids, and an education through sports is one that will benefit everyone.”
After eight weeks, the du FC has attracted more than 4,000 youths in Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates, while another 2,000 have registered for the next stage at the Sevens ground, Dubai, this Saturday.
“The first step has been achieved and we are bringing something important to our community. Now we have to bring the talent and this is the main one and the more difficult one,” Salgado added.
