Ho Chi Minh City is likely to become the first Southeast Asian location to host Juventus Academy, a football school run by the Serie A giants.

Carlo Mastellon, Juventus area manager for Asia, visits the southern Vietnamesemetropolis today, February 8, for a field trip to commence the Juventus Academy Ho Chi Minh City project.

The Italian football club have reached an agreement with Vietnamese sports marketing company Strata to seek a suitable local partner, either a business or professional football club, to establish the academy.

Juventus Academy now boasts more than 45 locations globally. The Ho Chi Minh City campus, once launched, will be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

The academy’s mission is to train young football lovers between five and 16 years old at the school, community, and professional levels.

Photo: Juventus

Juventus have a history of training world-famous players, including Italian great Del Piero, who scored 209 goals for the Old Lady over the course of his career.

Other well-known players include six-time Serie A winner Claudio Marchisio, former Lazio midfielder Tommaso Rocchi, and World Cup 1982 winner Paolo Rossi.

In Asia, Juventus Academy is now present in China, Japan, Lebanon, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait.

The Juventus Academy in Ho Chi Minh City will add to a list of several young football training centers popping up throughout Vietnam, such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai Academy, PVF, and Viettel Academy.

The Hoang Anh Gia Lai Academy had been collaborating with Premier League side Arsenal until June 2017, whereas PVF, run by Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, currently employs Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs as its part-time director of football.

These football academies consistently feed quality players to Vietnam’s national squads, including the U23 team that made history by finishing second at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China last month.

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