Young footballers in Portugal, enrolled in a Juventus academy, are navigating divided loyalties as their Italian club prepares to face a prominent Portuguese rival in European competition.
The conflict of allegiance centers on the upcoming match between Juventus and Sporting Lisbon in Turin on Tuesday. Nuno Tavares, who oversees the Juventus Academy project in Rio Maior, a central Portuguese town, described the sentiment among his young players.
Those who are not already Sporting fans are eager for Juventus to win. Conversely, the Sporting supporters among the academy’s ranks assert their longer-standing loyalty to the Portuguese club, expressing a clear desire for Sporting to emerge victorious.
The Juventus Academy in Rio Maior, part of MVP Academy, opened its doors in September. It currently trains 121 football athletes across various youth categories, from the youngest age groups to youth-level players.
MVP Academy, founded in 2019, aims to provide comprehensive “360-degree” support in both sports and academics for young athletes. The academy also houses 44 boarding athletes involved in basketball, swimming, and now football through the Juventus partnership.
While swimming and basketball fall under the MVP Academy brand, the football program operates as the Juventus Academy, strictly adhering to the Italian club’s training methodology. This specific approach is reinforced by regular visits from Juventus coaches every three months.
The methodology focuses on developing the young person first, then the athlete, encompassing football skills alongside physical and mental growth. This reflects over a century of Juventus’s experience in athlete formation.
When competing in official associative and federative tournaments, the Juventus Academy teams above the younger youth categories play under the name QT Sport Club of Rio Maior. This is because Juventus is not officially registered as a club in Portugal for these competitions.
However, the very youngest players participate in friendly matches and the upcoming Academies World Cup under the Juventus Academy banner. The local Juventus Academy also maintains a “healthy” rivalry with the Sporting Lisbon academy in Rio Maior, a common occurrence between local youth teams.
The European match causing the stir is a fourth-round encounter in a continental league competition. It will be officiated by German referee Daniel Siebert, kicking off at 8:00 PM Central European Time at Juventus Stadium.
In the same youth competition, Sporting currently holds 11th place with six points from three games. Their record includes two home victories against Kairat Almaty (4-1) and Marseille (2-1), alongside a 2-1 loss away to Napoli.
Juventus, yet to secure a win in the current edition of the competition, sits in 25th place with two points. Their results include a 4-4 home draw with Borussia Dortmund, a 2-2 draw at Villarreal, and a 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid.