Saudi rising football stars head off to Barcelona

Twenty rising Saudi football stars left for Spain Monday night to start a two week training camp at the hands of some of the world’s best coaches from Barcelona Club.

The 20 footballers, teenagers aged between 14 and 17 years-old, were chosen in the wake of the recent Mobily football school league.

“Mobily is delighted to give these talented Saudi teenagers a chance in a lifetime opportunity to train with Barcelona Club. We setup the Mobily school league precisely so that we could have this moment,” said David Murphy, Mobily’s Chief Marketing Officer.

For Mobily, the school league program was built with the goal of creating a scouting environment for rising stars, and to encourage more and more youth to embrace sports.

“We want to open new doors for sports marketing in the Kingdom. The keys to these doors are in the hands of tomorrow’s youth,” Murphy added, as he sent off the 20 youth to Spain from King Khaled Airport Monday night.

Once the youth reach Mediterranean Sea state, they will start training at Barcelona camp along with their two school coaches. There, they will learn skills and build up on their current talent so that they can pass on to the next stage of their football careers.

Some of the 20 youth have already reportedly signed on with local clubs. Riyadh’s Al-Hilal Club, which signed on for the biggest sports marketing contract in Saudi history, has already snapped up five of the footballers, while another two have signed with Al-Ahli club from Jeddah, and others with Al-Qadesiah Club from Dammam. Of the 20 footballers, eight are from Riyadh, Seven from Dammam and the remainder from Jeddah.

On Monday, in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, president of the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, rained praise on the initiative, saying that the initiative was an excellent first step on having the private sector on board for national development.

“This project, launched with the goal of developing young sportsmanship, will by the will of Allah contribute effectively to the plans and programs of the Presidency of Youth Welfare and those of the Ministry of Education,” the Prince said.

Prince Sultan said the initiative showed that Mobily’s executives had their finger on the pulse of development in the Kingdom, especially in the field of sportsmanship, and how committed the company is towards contributing to that development – development backed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.

Aug 1, 2007