Spectacular 'Puma Welcome VCF Academy' event held at Ciudad Deportiva

A new edition of the ‘Puma Welcome VCF Academy' event was held on Wednesday, September 18th, kickstarting the 2019/20 season for the 16 teams (13 men's and 3 women's) that form part of the VCF Academy 8-a-side and Women's projects at Valencia CF. The presentation was attended by 250 children and 30 coaches, as well as club president Anil Murthy, operations director Luis Martínez and VCF Academy director Marco Otero.

The academy is the envy of professional sports youth systems worldwide, and the facilities have recently been updated in accordance with this increased importance.

The speeches given by the guests reflected the dual goals of the VCF Academy: Training children to become better players, but also to become well rounded people. The importance of education was emphasised, as well as the willingness of the club to provide sporting, human and educational resources for those under their guidance.

The club's kit sponsor, Puma, have provided some of their new range of football boots to the VCF Academy alumni, allowing them to undertake a series of drills on artificial 8-a-side pitches, run by Puma personnel and VCF Academy coaches.

Rounding off the event was a large group photo, in which the children had their picture taken with: Valencia CF captain Jaume Doménech; Emilio Bernad, Guillem Molina and Yunus Musah from VCF Mestalla; Alejandra Serrano, Carolina Férez and Mari Paz Vilas from VCF Femenino; and former players and current ambassadors such as Juan Sol, Ricardo Arias, Miguel Tendillo and Miguel Ángel Bossio. There were also autographs and chats with the children, who one aspire to one day follow in the footsteps of their idols.