“Fort Virtus” is an “exceptional” Emirati success story

The owner of the “Fort Virtus” club, Yousef Al Marzouqi, expressed his happiness with the historic achievement achieved by the team in qualifying for the first division league, for the first time in its history, as well as the reserve team’s qualification for the second division league in the same season.

Al Marzouqi told Emirates Today that it is rare to achieve success that exceeds expectations like that achieved by the “Fort Virtus” club, adding that “what happened represents an exceptional Emirati success story that can be told as a unique model, after the club succeeded in its first season, following the founding of the team, in rising from the second division to the first division, and the reserve team was also able to rise from the third division to the second division in the same season.”

Yousef Al Marzouqi expressed his happiness with the double success achieved by the club, noting that he looks forward to confirming the capabilities of the people of the UAE in the field of sports investment. He added that the most important thing that distinguishes “Fort Virtus” is its possession of a global football network, through communicating with people with experience and attracting competencies with a successful managerial career in European stadiums, in addition to focusing mainly on young talents with an average age not exceeding 20 years, with the aim of building for the future. Players such as Ange Kouame, who was crowned top scorer in the third division with 35 goals, have emerged, in addition to his influential goals in the second division.

He said: “We were keen to complete the procedures for forming the team as quickly as possible, after fulfilling the requirements for a license to participate in the second division league, as we played the first match, last August, with only 12 players who made up the team at that time, before completing the registration of the rest of the players and starting strongly in the competition, so that we topped the standings in some stages, before we faced some stumbles.”

He added: “We succeeded in making amends and finishing the season in second place, and booking a promotion ticket to the first division league, where the challenge will be greater as it is one of the two approved competitions within the internationally recognized professional competitions.”

He continued: “We participated with the reserve team in the third division league, with the aim of giving the opportunity to the largest possible number of players to continue playing matches, and the success was doubled by the team achieving one of the promotion cards.”

Al-Marzouqi revealed that a number of the team’s players received offers to undergo periods of living and technical tests in European stadiums, especially Italian and Spanish, which reflects the quality of the young players that “Fort Virtus” is keen to attract.

He praised the role played by the Italian coach, Andrea Tedesco, who was chosen due to his career during which he worked with junior teams and national teams in Europe, which made him an ideal choice to deal with the young players who constitute the majority on the team’s roster.

Al Marzouqi stressed that “the UAE is a world leader in the flexibility of legislation that makes it superior to many other countries in attracting talented players of different nationalities, and that it is capable in the coming years of becoming one of the most important countries contributing to the development and presentation of football talent on the global stage.”

He added: “I hope that the teams that represent sports projects led by young Emiratis will receive support from official authorities, just like projects in other fields, which will contribute to strengthening the Emirati presence in the sports investment environment, and raising the ambitions of these cadres who prove their successes season after season, and knock on the doors of competition with strength and seriousness.”

Al Marzouqi thanked the Ministry of Sports, the Football Association and the sports councils for their efforts and support, stressing his aspiration to support them in developing sports facilities that serve private clubs and community activities. He said: “We urge holding workshops with private clubs to develop and update regulatory regulations and legislation, as we saw the success of this experience represented by the rise of United Club to the ADNOC Professional League as the first team with private ownership in the history of our league, which reflects the strength and effectiveness of private clubs that contribute to achieving the strategic vision for sports, through Transforming clubs from entities that receive and spend support to entities that contribute economically and technically, and adopt a model of financial sustainability in parallel with organizing government support, as is currently done in government clubs.”

Al Marzouqi concluded his speech by stressing that work continues without stopping in order to prepare for the next season, which requires special preparations to participate in the first division league, stressing the endeavor to continue raising the technical level of the teams and achieving all the requirements for success.

Youssef Al Marzouqi:

• “Fort Virtus” has a global football network, through communicating with people with experience and attracting talent.