RIGA FC NEW APPOINTMENTS IN ACADEMY STRUCTURE

Riga, October 8th, 2020—Football Club Riga is delighted to announce an exciting new structure to support our ever growing football Academy.

Jordi Gonzalez Puentes will be joining the club as Head of the Academy with immediate effect. He brings with him two experienced youth coaches Albert Garcia Pinadella and Marc Velasco Borrell to be responsible for the different age groups within the Academy structure.

The new Academy team brings a wealth of football knowledge and experience from the top European football clubs such as FC Barcelona and City Football Group. The appointment sets the new level for the Baltic football and expands the opportunity for Riga’s young footballers.

Jordi Gonzalez is an expert leader and manager, whostarted his career in 2003 as the Youth Academy director at Spanish UE Macanet de la Selva, and CF Sils, moving to FC Barcelona’s School after. During his career he held various role in one of the City Football Group’s clubs – FC Girona, including the positions of Director of Youth Scouting Department and Academy Director. He was also working at Espanyol as a coach and in Academy scouting department.

Albert Garcia is joining from City Footbll Group’s Girona FC where he held position of Head Coach of U19 and physical work coordinator of U16/U17/U18. He has a 14-year experience as a coach and professional trainer in youth teams of different ages at Girona FC and is a holder of UEFA PRO Licence.

Marc Velasco is a UEFA PRO A licenced coach with 6-year professional experience as a player in the 3rd Division in Spain. He was involved in several projects of FC Barcelona, including a position of Director of International Academy of FC Barcelona in Istanbul and coach at FCBEscola Barcelona, Barca Academy New York Pro. He also worked as assistant coach of the professional club Sagan Tosu of J1 League. His managerial experience includes 9 year coaching the first teams of such clubs as CF Sant Cerbia, AT.C. Sant Pol and FC Tordera.

Aleksandr Pronin, General Director FC Riga, on appointment: “We put a lot of effort to assemble a strong staff team who know what the demands of the game are at the highest level. All three of new members of staff have a vast experience in professional football and can pass on their knowledge to our young players. The appointments of Jordi, Albert and Mark alongside our structure and facilities, means that young footballers at FC Riga now have everything in place to achieve their very best on the football pitch and develop their professional careers.”

Jordi Gonzalez : “I’d like to thank TSI and Riga for the faith placed in me and the team, and we look forward to the challenge. We are here to work hard, bring further success to the Academy and the Club and we cannot wait to get started.”

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