CASTRO AND CRUZ OUTLINE THEIR PLANS FOR THE SEVILLA FC OF THE FUTURE

16/11/2019

Both participated in Web Summit 2019 in Lisbon

Sevilla FC's business model becoming an example for other clubs is a reality. The management of the club's resources and its sustained, continuous economic growth in recent years has been noticed not just by those in the world of sport. The model has become one to follow in the business world too. The admiration that the club attracts, based on its economic success and the club's successes this century has led to the club receiving more and more invites to the most relevant conferences in the world.

This month, Club President José Castro and CEO José María Cruz represented the club at Web Summit 2019 in Lisbon, considered the most important technology event in the world, with over 70,500 attending this year, 2,150 start-ups and 239 members. The event had very famous speakers, such as the Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister from 1997-2010; Guo Ping, the rotating CEO of Huawei; Brad Smith, the President of Microsoft, and Michel Barnier, the EU's lead Brexit negotiator. Representatives from companies such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Wikipedia were also in attendance.

Castro: “In 15 or 20 years time other clubs will once again follow our example which we are setting right now”

Castro and Cruz explained the Sevilla FC business model. The President spoke about what the club's work consists of: "What we have done is got a clear and strong management, not just focused on LaLiga but making sure we can be in the UEFA Europa League or the Champions League every season because this gives us the money that allows us to continue competing in Europe and achieving important landmarks - we are the Spanish club with the most European trophies and finals after Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. These landmarks we have achieved are down to the hard work, effort, and continuing to follow our ideology, which now other clubs have joined us in doing. Before, they didn't understand that when a player reaches a good price, you have to sell him". He also explained that "you have to evolve, and clearly we are evolving, and I am sure that in 15 or 20 years time, other clubs will once again follow our example which we are setting right now. Sevilla will continue like this, doing things differently, always making the most of our resources, which is the only way that we can close the gap on the most powerful clubs".

Cruz: “We need the support of technology to be more efficient than our rivals”

At the same time, José María Cruz spoke about how the club had evolved in the era of new technologies: "I think we have a tool that no other club has, and that is the best Sporting Director in the world, Monchi. I think he is the best in the whole world at finding talent, and of course we have a great academy. Next season we want to invest a lot of money to optimise our academy and we are working with the latest technologies to use AI in our scouting all over the world. We are working on a strategic plan for the next three years and we think our objective is to be competitive on a sporting level with less resources than other Spanish and international club. We think we don't just need human resources, which are very important, but also the support of technology to be more efficient than our rivals every day".

The video (in Spanish) features exclusive footage and the thoughts of the Sevilla FC representatives at the most important technology event in the world.