TURIN: Serie A giants Juventus have gone the Asian way in developing talent with the launch of two new academies in China’s Tianjin and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City respectively.
It is the club’s fourth academy in China after opening them in cities such as Zhuhai, Nanjing and Meishan. 3,500 children are expected to be a part of the new academy. Shanghai is in the pipeline at present and Juventus will have one there in the near future as well. The club has a range of sponsors from China such as Ganten, Linglong Tires and China Merchants Bank too.
Two days later, Juventus opened an academy for the first time ever in Vietnam in coordination with a local sports management firm, Binh Minh Sports JSC. The country’s leading English newspaper, Saigon Times reports that the club will provide its first batch of 60 trainees aged between 11-13 with football training of European standards as well as nutritional care and lessons on culture, foreign languages and life skills.
It will also help promote football coaching at grassroots level in schools and in the community. The academy will also organise a number of community-based football activities for children aged between 3 and 17, during which outstanding players will be selected to join the professional program.
