Marco Di Lauro, Kevin
Salazar and Gonzalo Balbi identified by Nike Academy Head Coach Jimmy Gilligan
as outstanding talents following World Tour.
The
top three players from Nike’s The Chance Final have been announced in
Manchester this evening as the global tour draws to a close; after a six week
journey that has seen the 16 finalists experience professional football and
elite training at the very highest level. Marco Di Lauro from Italy, Kevin
Salazar from Colombia and Gonzalo Balbi from Spain have been awarded
well-deserved places in the Nike Academy, a full-time player academy based in
England and supported by the FA Premier League, until the end of the season.
Nike’s
The Chance is a unique global talent search that gives amateur footballers the
chance to prove themselves on an elite stage and take their game to the next
level. More than 100,000 players from 55 countries around the world
participated in Nike’s The Chance 2012, culminating in the best 100
participating in a global final at FC Barcelona’s famed youth academy.
The
top 16 players from the global finals in Barcelona last summer were invited to
attend a global tour, under the watchful eye of Head Coach of Nike's The Chance
global tour and Nike Academy Director of Football Jimmy Gilligan, visiting some
of the world’s most iconic footballing institutions including Juventus Football
Club, Manchester United Football Club, US Soccer and England’s National
Football Centre at St George’s Park.
The
players kicked off their global tour in January at Nike’s World Headquarters in
Oregon, U.S., and went through a series of intense training and elite testing
during their first week in preparation for upcoming games.
Players
were assessed through Nike SPARQ, a training and conditioning system that helps
build better athletes. Next stop was US
Soccer in Los Angeles, which saw them enjoy a 4-3 win over USA U-17s, and take
in the famous sights of the area including the Hollywood Walk of Fame and
Universal Studios.
The
tour then continued onto Europe, first stop Juventus Football Club in Turin,
which saw the 16 young footballers welcomed to the city by Juventus and Italian
international midfielder Claudio Marchisio and academy coach Gianluca Pessotto.
After
Italy, the group headed to Manchester United, England, for a week of training
and football culture immersion at the club’s Carrington training facility. There, the final 16 were put through their
paces by Brian McClair, former United forward and current club Director of
Youth, and Tony Strudwick, Manchester United’s strength and conditioning
expert. Off the pitch, the group were
treated to a guided tour of Old Trafford and a meet and greet session with
senior squad players Tom Cleverly, Chris Smalling and Danny Welbeck.
The
final stop of the tour saw the 16 young footballers visit England’s National
Football Centre at St George’s Park.
Nike’s partnership with the FA granted the squad with unrestricted
access to the world-class football facility and saw the players receive an
intensive elite-level coaching session from Head Coach of England U-21s Stuart
Pearce and England Manager Roy Hodgson.
On
the selection of the top three young footballers, Head Coach of Nike's The
Chance global tour and Nike Academy Director of Football Jimmy Gilligan, said:
“The global tour has afforded these 16 finalists the footballing opportunity of
a lifetime. The commitment from the
squad has been relentless and the standard of football highly impressive.
“Each
of the finalists have given everything they have during their time with us at
Nike’s The Chance, and each one can hold their head up high and know that they
did themselves proud. It has been a
pleasure to work with all of them and I wish each one of them every success for
the future – I am sure this won’t be the end of their journey.
“I
look forward to welcoming and working with Marco, Kevin and Gonzalo at the Nike
Academy – as they continue to develop and take their chance to get noticed at
the highest level.”
Throughout
the tour the 16 finalists benefited from an extended team of elite coaches,
nutritionists and fitness conditioners throughout the tour, to ensure they
arrived at each training session and fixture focused and in peak
condition. And each stop gave the
players the chance to catch the eye of leading coaches in the game. Since the
start of The Chance competition in 2010, 16 players have turned their
participation into a professional club contract. The most recent, Tom Rogic
from Australia, signed for Scottish Champions Celtic FC and recently played for
the Australia national team.
Aspiring
young players can follow The Chance global tour via Nike’s Football Facebook
page and via @NikeFootball on Twitter.
