Benfica Campus hosted MLS coaches

REPORT

Sport Lisboa e Benfica hosted three Major League Soccer (MLS) coaches who had the opportunity to observe some of the methods and processes that have helped make the Benfica Campus training and development center one of the best in the world.

The experience, which was part of the MLS Coaching Education Program, took place during one week and had the objective of providing the visiting coaches with exclusive insight on training sessions from various training ages and levels, from the earliest youth categories to the Benfica B team.

For Pedro Marques, Technical Director of Benfica Campus, "it was a privilege to welcome MLS coaches and share a part of our know-how and experience. Soccer in North America is in full development and this visit is a recognition of Benfica Campus as a world reference in football training.”

 The clubs represented in this program were: Chicago Fire SC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps.

For Nicolas Gagnon, from Montreal Impact, this was an important experience: “I’ve heard a lot of good things about Benfica, such as it is one of the best in the world and now that I have experienced it, I would say the same thing.”

 An opinion shared by Scott Howey from the Vancouver Whitecaps: “I knew that some top players had come from here, obviously they had some record sales. I thought ok they must be doing something, I wanted to go and investigate, learn some more and see why there are so many players coming from here. What I know is that it is always player driven, they keep trying to make the best decision for the player at that time so whether that means the under 15’s playing with the under 17’s, the 17’s playing with the under 23’s, they keep trying to just progress the players when they are ready, you know it’s not what the team needs on the weekend it’s what the player needs and the keep making the best decision for that player and for them to keep progressing and ideally make him to their first team and on from there.”

 Michael Brady, from Chicago Fire, also highlighted the importance of getting to know the way Benfica works at Benfica Campus: “I watched Benfica obviously on TV, I know their reputation, how they also develop young players and the people here have been very helpful, they’ve answered a lot of our questions and they have really given us a really good insight into that day to day of Benfica.”

Pics: Tânia Paulo / SL Benfica