VICE OF FLAMENGO BASE FOOTBALL PROJECTS TO HAVE "BEST BASE IN THE WORLD" AND HAS FUTSAL AT NINHO DO URUBU

"Be the best in the world". The expression was repeated a few times during the interview with the UOL portal by Vitor Zanelli, vice-president of grassroots, futsal and women's football at Flamengo. In one of the rooms of the structure intended for young people in Ninho do Urubu, the leader admitted that thinking can be utopian, but it is a guide in everyday life. The improvement in the place dedicated to training athletes makes Fla dream of taking all football to CT five and a half years after the tragedy with 10 young people.

"This pain will never go away. The basics of what I try That's what we're going to talk about all our lives, with this respect for the deceased. Yes, many of the athletes who are here today lived with it, many of the professionals. Now, like Flamengo, we will. What we've always done here is think that we want to be the best in the world", said the VP of the base.

The Ninho is divided into two modules, one for the professional and the other for the base. The kids haven't spent the night there for years and the CT only served as a hotel in special cases. Between two gyms, locker room, cafeteria, physiology area, bedrooms and more, what you see today is completely different from what was right at the entrance of the CT in February 2019.

"What we managed to build in In terms of structure and achievements, it's something fantastic. We broke all the club's achievement records, we won titles that the club hadn't had before, we increasingly expanded our brand in international competitions, we sold players and placed athletes in the professionals like never before. done. The most important thing is that we managed to upgrade the entire process."

Flamengo has doubled the number of fields in recent years. Of the initial five, two of them were unusable. Today, there are 10 in total, three of which are synthetic grass and seven are natural grass. The club agreed to purchase two plots of land neighboring the CT to further expand its domains. Three more fields will be built there. Furthermore, the club is already working to build a mini-stadium that will host youth and women's matches.

"We started to put into practice the thought: I want to be the best in the world. To be the best in the world, I have to think about utopia and, to be like this, I need to overcome all these logistical and structural challenges. Our idea is to bring all football together here within our training process, one of the main tools we have. It's futsal. They train at Gávea and Barra. have good logistics for all athletes and all professionals. And the best logistics would be to centralize everything in the same place."

More than R$1 billion in sales

In the last five years, Flamengo sold more than R$1 billion worth of youth athletes. The club projects to have the potential to make over R$1 billion in the next four years.

"When we entered here we were in 15th club in the world in base sales. Today we have risen to 13th. Our objective is to reach between the 10, then five. One step at a time. We want new things. Our main objective is to train players for the professional, but we also want to form winners. b>Without looking the other way

Flamengo has made significant sales in recent years and avoids comparisons with its rivals. Palmeiras, for example, reached R$1 billion in the last five major negotiations involving players revealed in the youth categories: Estêvão, Luis Guilherme, Endrick, Artur and Kevin. Fla, however, has not had other names that generated astronomical amounts since Vini Jr and Lucas Paquetá.

Even so, the club remains strong in sales every year. Names like João Gomes, Matheus França, Rodrigo Muniz and others left for large markets. Richard Ríos, now at Palmeiras, was picked up by Fla, but didn't have a place at the club. Afterwards, he earned R$1.5 million when he transferred to Alviverde.

"I think there are many clubs that do a good job. There are gems and good players in every club. Some have the opportunity to sell, others don't. Some sell well, others poorly. We sell players, yes, and we sell very well."