Yongin City Signs Player Development Agreement with Sevilla FC of Spain
Yongin Special City's professional soccer team Yongin FC (club owner Mayor Lee Sang-il) announced on the 23rd that it had signed a friendship agreement with Spanish prestigious soccer club Sevilla FC on the 22nd for the mutual development of both clubs' soccer programs.
Building on a friendship agreement for mutual exchange and cooperation signed between Yongin Special City and Seville City in October of last year, the move seeks practical cooperation in the sports sector.
The agreement ceremony held on that day at the training ground of Ciudad Deportiva Jose Ramón Cisneros Palacios in Seville, Spain was attended by four officials from both clubs: Lee Dong-guk, Yongin FC Technical Director; Shin Chang-hun, Yongin FC Player Support Team Leader; José María Cruz Gallardo, Sevilla FC Innovation Center Director; and Jose Collado Ripoll, Sevilla FC International Projects Team Leader.
Yongin FC established this agreement by linking it with the ongoing training stage for the U18 squad's experience with Sevilla FC's youth development system and training programs. This follows a mid- to long-term vision of gradually implementing Sevilla FC's player development experience and soccer expertise into Yongin FC's environment.
The Yongin FC U18 squad is conducting a training stage from September 14 to 24, participating in Sevilla FC's youth development system and training programs to experience Europe's soccer environment.
According to the agreement signed on that day, both clubs will cooperate in various fields including △youth player development △coaching capacity enhancement training △sports directing △research and development until September 2027, sharing their respective experience and knowledge.
Sevilla FC will first share its player development expertise with Yongin FC to help identify the latent talents of promising players and develop them into excellent players with outstanding abilities.
Yongin FC will conduct intensive short-term experience programs in Seville targeting its youth players to develop their soccer competencies. Through this program, players will go beyond the level of simple training camps and experience training methods and player development processes that are difficult to encounter domestically.
Education for strengthening the competencies of Yongin FC's coaches and technical staff will also be provided. They will participate in intensive online courses operated by Sevilla FC and short-term intensive workshops held in various cities to enhance their expertise.
Centering on Technical Director Lee Dong-guk, Yongin FC plans to adopt various expertise from Sevilla FC including player development strategy and recruitment, data accumulation and utilization for each player, and record management to establish a consistent player management system from the youth level to the professional level.
Through this agreement, Yongin FC plans to actively adopt Sevilla FC's club management strategies and use them as nourishment for building future Yongin FC's club management principles and player development systems.
Sevilla FC is a prestigious Spanish club that has participated in La Liga, Spain's professional soccer league, for 67 seasons, and won the championship cup with a record of 14 wins, 8 draws, and 4 losses during the 1945-1946 season.
Mayor Lee said, "It is very meaningful that the friendship agreement between Yongin Special City and Seville City has led to soccer exchange," and added, "I hope that Sevilla FC's long-accumulated experience and expertise in youth player development and soccer systems will be well adapted to Yongin FC's environment to create a foundation where both players and coaches can grow."