Red Bull scouts Brazil's next potential football stars

Sport360 staff 18:04 05/03/2018
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  • Seventeen-year-old Luis Phelipe Souza in action.

    Brazilian football stars have traditionally emerged from scrappy community playing fields in favelas, but for Luis Phelipe Souza, 17, the road to the future starts at a state-of-the-art academy.

    With Brazil the world’s biggest exporter of professional footballers, incentives are ever bigger for youngsters to try and make the cut.

    And the Red Bull Brasil training center in Jarinu, near Sao Paulo, gives a lucky few a head start.

    Souza trains full time, going to his home in a favela only on weekends. He’s one of 120 youngsters, from 14 to 20, desperate to make the big stage.

    “My idol is Neymar because of all he had to endure to get to where he is: the criticisms, the insults,” said Souza. “He succeeded, overcame the obstacles and is one of the best in the world.”

    The Red Bull centre was built a decade ago by the energy drinks giant to give its professional team, which plays at Sao Paulo state level, a top class talent pool on which to build.

    The same model has seen Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig rise to success in Austria and Germany, respectively. But it also feeds into growing demand for Brazilian players abroad.

    More than one in 10 transfers involve Brazilians and last year clubs in 93 of FIFA’s 211 member associations had at least one Brazilian, according to a study from FIFA-TMS, which monitors the transfer market.

    Red Bull, an Austrian company that uses sponsorship of high level sports to mold its image, sees Brazil as a good bet. The country has a population of 206 million, a deep footballing culture and appreciation for skillful players.

    “Brazilians make the difference thanks to their creativity and exuberance. The kids here play more freely, less robotically,” said Red Bull Brasil’s executive director Thiago Scuro while watching an under-17 game.

    Springboard to foreign clubs

    Thomas Bueno

    Red Bull Brasil employs six scouts around the country to pull in new talent – boys like Thomas Bueno, a promising striker who adores Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and is just 14.

    “Red Bull Brasil opens the doors to us in other clubs in Germany, Austria. It’s like a springboard for getting abroad,” said Bueno, who arrived at the club last year.

    Souza has already had a taste of the life and he likes it.

    He says he cried with emotion when he took a plane for the first time to attend an international championship in Austria.

    “I’ve got an opportunity to change my family’s life. I come from a poor neighborhood and God knows how much I’ve suffered since I was eight,” he said.

    An apprentice’s salary that he receives is sent to his sick mother, he says.

    This is a business, though, and the competition is relentless. At the end of each season, only the best are allowed to stay – many are sent home.

    Vitor Hugo Araujo is 20 and knows now how hard it is to break through to the top professional level.

    He’s been trying to get into training programs at Brazilian clubs since he was 13 and arrived at Red Bull Brasil three years ago. He also spent six months in Austria.

    “I lost a bit of my childhood to football, but if I had to redo it, I wouldn’t change anything,” he said.

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