Dragon Force Academy is set to launch in Sialkot after Portuguese football powerhouse FC Porto signed a partnership with the Sialkot Football Academy, marking a major step for youth football development in Pakistan. The new academy will lay the foundations for FC Porto’s well-known methodology of player development with their roots in Europe and will offer training sessions for coaches and football managers.
Forward Sports is the local manufacturer and supplier of official FIFA World Cup match balls and the Sialkot Football Academy is a flagship project of the company. FC Porto will be collaborating on providing an intensive training programme that aims to build young athletes both on and off the pitch.
The Pakistan Embassy in Portugal, which brokered the deal, said that the partnership could give a platform to talented Pakistani youngsters to grow through an established international football system.
FC Porto Director of Dragon Force Academies Ricardo Frey-Ramos said that the deal was a crucial step in the club’s internationalisation campaign. The partnership would enable Porto to impart its football methodology, values and experience to the youth development of players in Pakistan, he said.
President Sialkot Football Academy and General Manager of Forward Sports, Hassan Masood Khawaja, said the deal was a new era for the young footballers of the country, as the two organisations would nurture local talent for possible future champions.
The Sialkot facility will be the 11th international Dragon Force Academy FC Porto will establish. The club already has academies in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Turkey, Mozambique, India, Cape Verde and Cyprus with an ambitious goal of reaching 40,000 young athletes around the world by 2030.
Pakistan Ambassador to Portugal Aisha Farooqui hailed the partnership as a milestone in the history of football lovers in the country, and former Investment Minister and President of the Pakistan Regional Economic Forum Haroon Sharif facilitated the meeting of the two organisations.
