VSI Sports Institute News Release - www.vispro.co
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
RIO MAIOR, Portugal - VisionPro Sports Institute (VSI) announced on Tuesday the launch of its new soccer academy in the town of Rio Maior in central Portugal. The project will also incorporate the formation of VSI Rio Maior FC, which will serve as an outlet for its young players to develop and play in Portugal’s competitive soccer structure. VSI recently partnered with the Brandon Flames to create a similar academy in Tampa, Fla., with teams set to compete in the USL PDL, W-League and Super-20 League in 2012 and USL PRO in 2013.
"After three excellent months at the La Manga Club in Spain we are very happy to have relocated our European Headquarters Academy to the wonderful town of Rio Maior, Portugal," VSI CEO Simon Crane said. "If we were to draw the perfect location for the ideal academy with the most perfect facilities, it would be Rio Maior. Our students are already commenting on how impressive all the facilities are, how friendly the staff and townspeople are and how impressive the educational offering is. We are all very impressed with the environment and are looking forward to a long and productive relationship with the town and its people."
The Rio Maior project represents a transition from an Academy development program which VSI began in September 2011 in La Manga, Spain and which will now be based permanently in Portugal. USL Director of International Development Francisco Marcos will be a director of VSI in Portugal and serve as President of Rio Maior FC.
"This is a particularly gratifying development for me, personally and professionally, as I bring together an international project in my native country, but also further develop the links between USL and programs around the world," Marcos said "I expect the VSI projects, in Tampa and Rio Maior, to have significant interplay for everyone’s benefit."
Accompanying Marcos in a senior role in Portugal will be Hugo Ribeiro, who will be a director of VSI Portugal and a general manager of the VSI Soccer Academy. Ribeiro worked in the USL system, having spent a year with the Boston-based MPS organization, and has previously worked in the youth coaching and scouting departments at SL Benfica.
VSI is a English-based soccer development group which counts among its investors and mentors people such as Ian Wright (Arsenal and England), Mark Hughes (former Barcelona, Manchester United and Wales, current Queen’s Park Rangers manager), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Queen’s Park Rangers and England), John Obi Mikel (Chelsea and Nigeria), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa and England) and Danny Collins (Stoke City).
The Rio Maior academy project began on January 16 with 20 players from England, Spain and Hungary and during the next few weeks will see those players come together as a team which will play a series of friendly matches against appropriate opposing Portuguese teams. In the long-term, the club will endeavor to join the appropriate district of the Santarém league system for the 2012-13 season.
The academy will use the excellent facilities at Centro de Estágios de Rio Maior. The center includes three soccer fields, a full stadium with 8,000-seat capacity, state-of-the-art gymnasiums, two Olympic swimming pools and an outstanding indoor arena. The complex is normally used by the Portuguese F.A. for its youth teams as well as many professional clubs and Olympic teams from various federations and countries.
The VSI Soccer Academy has the full approval of the English Premier League Academy System and as a result the Rio Maior-based players will attend the University level Instituto Superior Desporto de Rio Maior, where a specially-designed academic program will cater to their needs.
An announcement on the coaching staff is expected shortly, with at least two members of the technical staff being Portuguese.