The Status of the Academy

The Football Academy at PFC Metallurg began its activities in October 2021 on the basis of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 555-G dated September 21, 2021. This is a unique educational organization that helps to realize the dream of many young football players — to become professional football players.

The purpose of the Academy is to create a national training base for the professional football, to educate football players who take an active civic position in the spirit of patriotism, based on the use of advanced European experience in football training.

History of creation

The history of the creation of the Academy began in 2019, when it was decided to create a football academy on the basis of the football school at PFC Metallurg. The founder of the Academy was JSC "Uzbek Metallurgical Plant". This project was supported by the Government of Bekabad town, which allocated 5 hectares of land on the banks of the Syrdarya River for the construction of the Academy. In the period from 2019 to 2020, with the support of Uzmetkombinat, intensive construction work began. In a short time, a football field with artificial turf, locker rooms, utility rooms were built, which were transferred to the use of the players. A dormitory and a canteen were equipped for the academy students. The football club has completely provided all students with the necessary football equipment, uniforms. In 2021, the construction of a field with a natural surface meeting all modern standards was completed next to the artificial field.

The process of working with young players in the Bekabad club did not leave indifferent the well-known company "El Golazo", which is a partner of the Real Madrid club in Central Asia, which put forward a proposal to create a full-fledged republican-scale football Academy on the basis of the football academy, which trains professional players based on advanced European training methods. El Golazo has signed an agreement with the Real Madrid Foundation on cooperation in this matter. And after a while, Spanish specialists appeared in our town.

The leadership of Uzmetkombinat played a decisive role in the creation of a new Football Academy and by the efforts of Uzmetkombinat an abandoned college building located near the base of the PFC Metallurg was transferred to the Academy.

Extensive work was carried out on the reconstruction of buildings in accordance with the most modern requirements in order to adapt them to the football infrastructure, to solve the tasks that faced the newly created Academy. Working groups from the Football Association of Uzbekistan, the Football Association of the Tashkent region, the republican and regional departments of Public Education came to consult during the construction work.

In the summer of 2021, selectors from the Academy, with the support of the Football Association of Uzbekistan, organized a competitive selection of talented young football players to the Academy throughout the country. Several thousand candidates were examined. The examination took place in several stages and at the final stage it was joined by Spanish specialists from the Real Madrid Foundation. As a result, about 200 of the most promising and promising young football players were selected.

In September, they went to the sports and recreation camp "Yoshlik" on the shore of the Charvak reservoir, where the training sessions of the Football Academy began.

And a month later, on October 5, 2021, a long—awaited and exciting event for all football fans took place in Bekabad — the opening of the Football Academy "El Golazo Academy Powered by Real Madrid". Since that date, our educational institution has been conducting its new history.

Why us?

Our Football Academy is a professional educational organization for training young football players. In this case, we are talking about serious preparation for the professional career of a football player. We accept the children by a strict selection. Football training at our Academy provides a number of advantages:

In our Academy professional coaches from Spain teach students Spanish method of playing football. They teach students to think through strategy, masterfully own the ball and play as a team. And that's why our Academy is a great opportunity for the children to make them new football stars.

Each pupil participates in the official matches of the Academy teams, according to his age category. The best players are especially watched by representatives of various professional clubs and national teams in order, perhaps, to invite them to join the starting lining up.

The most talented and promising children study with us on the basis of a grant. All expenses related to their accommodation, meals, sports equipment and training are paid by the Academy.

The entire Academy consists of seven teams of different age groups — from 11 to 17 years. We have two coaches for each team; as well as specialists who work with goalkeepers, organize physical training, work as educators.

 

Our values

The main value that we are trying to convey to the students is the game itself. The quality of the game is rated higher than the result. This should be understood as follows: with a good game, high results will come. The team can lose — and get sincere congratulations from the coach.

And a prerequisite for the successful implementation of our training program is the formation of a sense of love for football among the students of our Academy

Among our goals is spectacular football, in which both the player and the spectator enjoy themselves. We strive to light up new stars in the football firmament of the world.

The love of football, a healthy lifestyle, team spirit, respect for partners and rivals are our priorities in the training of young football players.

When selecting young football players for the Academy, our scouts and coaches pay attention to the following criteria:

Our coaches are professional not only in term of training, but also they know how to find an individual approach to each child. All of them are professional football players in the past, certified coaches. The training system is based on the development of such qualities, which are the most important according to Real Madrid specialists: leadership, will, self-control, teamwork, respect for others. Football training takes at least two hours a day. Attention is paid to tactics and strategy, working with the ball.

We set ambitious goals for ourselves:

 

The Spanish model of training on the Bekabad football fields

Our training process is based on the methodology of one of the greatest football clubs in the world — Real Madrid. The Real Madrid Foundation has been confidently spreading its methodology and philosophy around the world for many years, being the most striking example in teaching, developing and using best practices in the football industry.

Within the framework of the cooperation agreement, the Academy has an agreement with the Real Madrid Foundation, according to which Spanish specialists implement the Real Madrid methodology in teaching football in the practice of our educational institution.

This cooperation with Spanish football specialists helps us to adopt their experience and philosophy of the game, and successfully apply it in the training process. Colleagues from Spain coordinate all the trainings and games of our Academy and make adjustments to the educational process for the further progress of the players.

The Spanish method of teaching football is considered one of the best in the world. From a young age, players are taught to play pass, play one-touch, not waste time, and also learn to think on the field, make decisions and act, both with and without the ball, and not just stand and watch the game.

This system allows a young football player to quickly integrate into the football environment, understand it and enjoy playing football. The main goal of this method is to work for the future of children, to open up maximum opportunities for them.

An integrated approach is used in training — technical, tactical and physical training make up a single interrelated process.

Training in the technique of the game is carried out in order to improve the technical level of young football players. They study various techniques — playing the pass, driving the ball, its control, tackle, selection, etc.

Teaching the game tactics is based both on individual tactics training and on the training of team game tactics. The students are explained the tactics and taught to analyze the situation, make decisions on the field as quickly as possible, also not only play football, but improve their thinking ability as well. According to the Spanish coaches the most important thing in sport is the ability of thinking. As they say the thought always precedes the action, however action should constantly catch up with this thought. And to embody it in a confident passing the ball or shot the goal from an unexpected position. That is the most important thing to teach young football players so they will be able to succeed in professional football. Intelligence and creativity are integral parts of Spanish football, allowing the football players of Spanish clubs to be ahead of the planet in terms of the level of play and the number of awards.

Tactical and technical training is complemented by the most serious physical training, which is led by a Spanish fitness management specialist.

One of the cores of the Spanish method in football and its advantage is the evaluation system of players. An analysis is carried out and a detailed report on their success is prepared for each student of the Academy. Based on this analytical research, an individual approach to each player is implemented, and we try to make sure that each training session brings only positive emotions to our students.

The training model itself helps to improve the weak side of young football players and determine their strengths, bringing up the versatility, especially at the stage of initial training.

 

Socializing of our students

The Academy helps children develop health social relationships. Friendship, mutual assistance, team spirit, healthy rivalry without resentment, envy, and anger — all this is acquired in football trainings and during school classes. And, sometimes, for children, socialization and communication skills, behavior in society, are supposed to be even more useful than sports training.

The rules for our students are aimed at maintaining discipline. The Academy prohibits the use of video. Students are able to communicate with their parents by phone at a specially designated time.

But at the Academy there is the most professional relationship between coaches and students, as well as between players. Students are instilled with respect for rivals, peers and adults.

The Academy will grow together with our students and the logical conclusion of their training will be their transition to professional sports — junior teams of professional Uzbek and foreign football clubs.

 

Football "Mecca" of Uzbekistan

Our Academy attracts the attention of football fans and professionals from all over our country and foreign specialists. There were huge amount of Uzbek football stars and stars from all over the world as well. This is quite understandable, everyone is interested in the unique football training of young athletes that is being implemented here.

The government also pays great attention to the Academy. In August 2022, the President of Uzbekistan Sh. Mirziyoyev visited the Academy and expressed his appreciation for the activities of the Academy.

The Prime Minister of Uzbekistan A. Aripov has visited the Academy several times and he has done a lot to support the Academy.

Our guests were ministers, mayors and leaders of Uzbek football. The Academy's activities are widely covered in the country's mass media and on central television channels.

 

Material base

The material base of the Academy is very impressive — it has everything for a comfortable accommodation throughout the year, as well as for high-quality football and school education, as well as for the interesting leisure of our students.

!!! Moreover, the Academy has at its disposal four fields with natural and three with artificial turf on the basis of PFC Metallurg, a gym and a swimming pool.

Are there a lot of clubs those can offer such kind of conditions for trainings for their students, the answer is obvious.

 

Football and education

Regarding the education of young football players, they are succeeding in their studying.

We are implementing an orderly and well-structured program that aims to help young athletes develop their values, accompanied by learning to play football in combination with obtaining a modern secondary education. The school offers students a unique international experience in integrating school education with the sports activities of our students.

The school implements multilingual training. In addition to studying Uzbek and Russian languages, the school provides thorough study of foreign languages such as Spanish and English — the two most popular languages in the world.

sports activities of our students.

It is obvious that an intensive training process, long training camps, difficult competitions can have a negative effect of an athlete at school. Therefore, special attention is paid to the control of the organization of self-training of students. Teachers provide all possible assistance in completing homework, creative work, preparing for exams, tests. Classroom teachers monitor the attendance and progress of children at school, help to solve everyday problems. They work closely with other teachers, parents, coaches of athletes. The progress of the children is under strict control. If a student does not study well, he becomes the subject of a serious conversation with the leadership of the Academy and the school.

There is a rule in our Academy: “In order to train and play football the students have to study well as well”. Moreover, the school has all the conditions for high-quality and effective study, full-fledged leisure of students.