FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution and Portuguese power Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting) have announced the clubs have entered in to a multiple-year strategic partnership. Revolution club president Brian Bilello and general manager Michael Burns were in Lisbon today for the announcement, which will result in shared expertise, benefit and promotion for each club.
“We’re very excited to partner with a club with such history and prestige as Sporting Club De Portugal,” Bilello said. “The opportunity to not only partner on activities to improve our first team, but also to work with their prestigious academy on youth development, will benefit our club for many years. We will also assist Sporting in their efforts to explore opportunities to increase Sporting’s reach within the United States, both on and off the field.”
The primary focus of the partnership is to promote collaboration on training and development methods for both the clubs’ first teams and youth squads.
In regards to the first team, the agreement allows for the Revolution to bring in Sporting players on loan. Additionally, the teams will share scouting resources between the organizations.
On the youth development side, the agreement allows for the clubs’ academy teams, youth players and coaches to spend training time with the other organization’s teams
“Sporting has been one of the most consistent and successful programs in Europe, and we’re looking forward to working with their staff to share best practices, player talent and scouting resources,” Burns said. “Both clubs have been recognized for our youth development programs, and we’re anticipating a tremendous shared benefit by this partnership.”
The partnership also allows for potential friendly matches at both the first-team and youth-team levels, as well as special commercial opportunities to help Sporting’s brand grow in the U.S., and the Revolution’s brand to grow in Portugal and Europe.
The genesis of the partnership came earlier this season when the Sporting executives traveled to Foxborough for the Portugal-Mexico international friendly at Gillette Stadium on June 6. This is the Revolution’s first-ever international club partnership.
