YPT news

Saudi Arabia is AC Milan's next goal. The rossoneri club will open a Milan Academy in the oil-rich Gulf country on January 15: the final choice was not the capital Riyadh, but Ad Dammam, a city on the Gulf coast a few kilometers from the Bahraini border.

''It is a choice made in collaboration with the local company which will manage the soccer school and all the activities connected with the Academy,'' Michele Ferraris, product manager at Milan's Youth Programme, told ANSAmed. The project of the Milan academy is a result of collaboration with Stryx Sports Marketing, the company which obtained the licence from AC Milan to operate in Saudi Arabia.

The AC Milan initiative came obviously from soccer passion: a passion which overwhelmed Saud Bin Hussam Al Saud, one of the nephews of the Saudi King, a great fan of the rossoneri and the man who gave the initial push for the project. The academy is the first step of an important branding operation with which Milan aims at a gaining popularity of its brand in the Gulf, confirming the very strong interest for the Middle East.

The club has had for several years a ''Milan Academy'' in Cairo and another in Damascus in Syria since the beginning of September. ''Some 150 children are enrolled in the Cairo soccer school which has been working since 1994. We are very satisfied with the results obtained in collaboration with the local partner,'' AC Milan's manager explains. The Milan stronghold in Cairo is managed by the Mikadi Group and has its headquarters in the Golf City sports centre, near the airport of the capital. The outpost yielded good results and in fact in the beginning of September a Milan Academy opened doors in Damascus.

The Syrian academy is managed by local businessman Istwani Hassan: ''For now it relies on the stadium of Damascus which the Syrian soccer federation conceded to us with readiness,'' Ferraris said. But the Syrian project will undergo a strong impulse in mid-November when the independent Milan stronghold within the Garden City Resort, a complex which Istwani Hassan had built, will also be inaugurated in the presence of former AC Milan striker Daniele Massaro.

Milan has two Italian coaches in Egypt and Syria who coordinate the local coaches: Claudio Balesi in Cairo and Alessandro Pasquali in Damascus. But the interest for the Mediterranean led not only to the creation of the Milan Academies: together with Banca Intesa the club is planning a series of initiatives which are expected to begin from Egypt, also thanks to the recent acquisition which Banca Intesa made, buying Bank of Alexandria, which will be the local partner of the rossoneri.

''In Saudi Arabia we aim at growing the talents from the soccer school in three years,'' explains Ferraris who also pointed out the importance of the penetration of the brand. ''We are among the strongest in the Mediterranean together with Manchester United and Real Madrid, Barcelona is setting foot in the area now.'' With the matches from the English Premier League which will be broadcast only in pay-tv soon, the Gulf market will be extremely eager for Milan which is already much present on the local televisions and on Al Jazeera, where the matches of the rossoneri are commented by Cesare Maldini, former coach of the Italian national team. It is for this reason that soon Milan will launch an Arabic version of its website, while Ancelotti's team is expected to treat themselves with a mini-camp in Dubai during the winter break.