As Benfica, the club that has won the most titles and produces the most football stars in Portugal, is celebrating its 119th birthday, the Ateitis football academy has signed a cooperation agreement. This means that Ateitis will become Benfica - Ateitis FA, and the club's activities will be managed by Portuguese specialists.
"There are not many branches of our club in the world, but they all work with quality. As an example, the Benfica academy has not yet been closed in any country, be it China or the United States. By no means. Let's say after the war in Ukraine At the beginning of the year, part of the children of the academy that operated in this country moved to Lisbon and continue to learn the secrets of football.
In summary, I will say that the benefit of this contract is mutual - you get the club's constantly renewed methodology and professionalism, we hope - trained talented players", said Bernardo Carvalho, director of Benfica's academy, reminding that only one football player from the Baltic region has represented the club so far - Edgar Jankauskas.
The official collaboration between the academies will take effect on September 1 this year, although the partnership itself is in its second year. "Benfica" academy teams have already participated in the "Ateitis CUP" tournament, and "Benfica" itself has held a camp under its name twice in Vilnius.
"In order to take a qualitative step in Lithuania, we must be equal to the best. Not all children can go abroad, so our goal is to create and implement high quality training in Vilnius. If we are able to transfer even a part of the material that "Benfica" has accumulated in Lithuania, the level of the children will increase and it will only benefit the football of our country.
According to the agreement, the technical director of the "Benfica" academy will live in Lithuania, prepare the training process and reports on what was done during a specific period. I have no doubt that this project will be a good medium for young footballers to go to the country of football and get hooked on it," said Dainius Gudaitis, the initiator of the project.
Benfica - Ateitis FA Academy will train children from 3 to 15 years old. At a later age, players should be integrated into big football.
"We can be proud of the sales of players to foreign countries, we can be proud that the national team is represented by a group of Benfica students, but we are no less proud that 85 percent of the children in our academy go on to higher education," said Benfica's international operations coordinator Miguel Reis.
