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Today we have a conversation for you in which our partners from SunVoyageSports, who organize month-long tests in most clubs of all professional and semi-professional Portuguese leagues, and scouting events around the world to look for talent and give them a chance to develop. They will answer a few questions that will help you develop your career in the right direction and provide advice that will show you how great a chance I give cooperation with SVS and FTT.
So let's get started.
What are the benefits for the players from the cooperation of FTT and SVS?
First of all let me thank you for the opportunity of being part of this interview and tell you it is a pleasure for us.
Now, answering your question: the most straightforward benefit for the players is that they have a real opportunity of showing their skills in front of a club’s staff. On one side we understand the power of having an online player profile and in that sense, FTT is a great opportunity. On the other side, now, players registered in FTT will be able to have special conditions to come to Portugal in one of SunVoyage Sports’ Trial Packages.
Because of your experience in organizing events and testing for players, what would you advise players to get their chance in professional football?
This is a question we get pretty often. What I use to say is this: there is always one player attribute that overcomes talent and that is HARD WORK. Not all the professional players are talented but for sure they are hard workers. They take their work very seriously and they commit to it. Nowadays, this starts in very young ages with all these super advanced academies, where young kids start behaving like professional athletes.
Which players do you think have the best chance of playing in the Portuguese league after the events or trial period or is there any preferred player profile?
I would not say that there is a player type in the Portuguese league. For sure, clubs here don’t focus so much on physical attributes like in the UK or Northern Europe, but still there is a need for such players in every squad. Above all, clubs want players that are committed to learn and that have a certain ability to apply tactical concepts in a short period of time.
What clubs have you established cooperation with and where do players get to hit when they present themselves from the good side?
We at SunVoyage Sports are happy to tell all the athletes that contact us, that we have opened doors in a large portion of clubs in 3rd, 4th and 5th divisions. Just to give you a few names we work with Sertanense FC, CAC Pontinha, Celoricense, Atlético do Cacém, Barreirense, Lusitano de Évora, and many others…
We also have recently developed some partnerships in the 2nd Division and depending on the age of the player, we can also get trials in clubs like Belenenses, Desportivo de Chaves, Beira-Mar, etc…
We always design a package that suits the skills and experience of the player and this might mean they are ready for a 2nd Division or that we recommend they start in the regional championships. This does not mean at all that the player that starts in the 5th division will never become a professional player. It only means that, at this moment, that player has much higher chances of being offered a place in the squad and grow from there. We tend to recommend that players start in a lower division so their growth is sustainable. Not to mention that 2nd and 3rd division clubs have much tighter standards and the chances of signing a player are smaller than the other divisions.
Above all, we don’t sell false expectations. We are honest with our athletes and they appreciate that. Companies that will talk to you about big names like Benfica, Porto, Sporting, Braga, Guimarães or any other top rated club might not be completely honest with you. What we mean is that it might be possible to get you a trial there, even for us, but then what is the player’s retention rate? I will tell you: ZERO or very close to it.
Due to the difficult situation caused by covid19, what are your plans?
Due to the recent pandemic we currently do not have any player in Portugal in one of our trials. The last one left to his own country one week ago.
However, we are fully committed in the next pre-season. We are preparing to have a lot of athletes on trials and to have a scouting event in Morocco as soon as we possibly can.
We did not allow the virus to break us and if it did something it was to boost our energy levels and motivation to serve our athletes better and more efficiently. We had time to work on our internal processes and also in some partnerships we have so we will be ready when football will come back to “normal” or close to it.
To conclude, I would like to thank you again for the opportunity and for the great questions.
All the best and keep up the good work.
We hope that this conversation with our partners will show you how extensive our plans are to help you develop a career and promote your skills so that you can get a chance in professional clubs.
In addition to working with many clubs, sporting directors and agents around the world, I think SunVoyageSport is one of our key partners.
However, football, like any other area of life, requires a lot of hard work to achieve a high standard, so if you need something, write to us, but above all, work hard every day to improve your skills, and if you persistent effects will appear!
