Gonçalo Nunes is responsible for making sure that players who come through the NF Academy setup get opportunities at foreign clubs. He is very pleased with what the academy has achieved so far.

Through our setup for identifying and producing talent, it is very satisfying to see that we can offer NF Academy players a path further into professional football and top academies. I think we have taken huge steps to accomodate for players who wish to play professional career abroad.

Sporting CP is known for having produced players such as ballon d’or winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo. Additionally, over the years Sporting have exported players to the most competitive leagues and developed a training culture that have attracted some of the biggest talents in Europe.

The fact that eleven of the ten players who played in the Euro 2016 final have come through the ranks of Sporting CP, says a lot about the quality of their youth setup. Players in the age between sixteen and twenty are followed up individually, in addition to playing in good, competitive leagues for U17, U19 and U23. This way, players can go through the ranks before being called up to the B- or A-team. Being thrown into playing senior football prematurely can hurt a player’s development, and this way we can avoid this happening, says Nunes, who has a background at both SL Benfica and Sporting CP.

 

Clear strategy for integrating talents with academies

August Forbenius and Nicolai Skoglund both represent Norway at G16 level. This year, they both signed their professional contracts at Sporting CP. Nunes wishes to accomodate for even more Scandinavian talents to get recruited to top academies abroad through establishing a integration process early.

Through our partnership with Sporting, we can start integrating players with the academy from the age of thirteen. For players Sporting are interested in, we can organize several trials over a year. Also, they can represent Sporting in the many tournaments they compete in. For many of the players, this will be a huge benefit. But just as important – giving players the correct know-how and experiences to make their transition into foreign academies easier in the future.

 

READ ALSO: Alfredo Steiner trained in Sporting Academy

 

From local training camps to trials at foreign clubs

According to Goncalo Nunes, the upcoming year will be an exciting one for players who wish to go far. In 2020, NF Academy will visit many new places and organize local training camps. Through these camps, local players will get the opportunity to parttake in international programs, where the best players will be given the chance to try out for some of the top academies in Europe.

We have been invited to a lot of exciting meetings, that give opportunities for our players to try out for different top academies. To make it possible for us to help players who aim to become professional, it is important that they get to experience different training setups and cultures. From next year on, our goal is to have players trial at top clubs in Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and England.

I want to train with NF Academy

Send us a short request with the player’s background and the type of activities you want to participate in. We follow up with advice on which local and international programs can suit you.