Thanks to the domino effect generated by the merger of Costa Brava with Badalona, with the direct consequence of the dissolution of the Girona club’s subsidiary, Juventus Lloret will debut in Segona Catalana next season. It does not rise directly because Calonge was proclaimed champion of the category – Tercera Catalana, Group 18 – with only one point of difference, and despite not savoring the glory of lifting a title that they chased until the last day , administrative promotion carries the same prize: climbing a category.
The history of Juventus Lloret is very short, just four years, and it was born from an official initiative of the Vecchia Signora. Eight years ago Juventus in Turin launched the Juventus Academy with the intention of opening official academies of the club around the world and consolidating the sports project by expanding the range of young footballers under its tutelage beyond the Italian borders. During the first years of the initiative’s life, academies were founded in the United States, Brazil and Sweden. There are now more than 50 countries and on all continents.
Most of them operate as regional clubs, but are subject to the ordinances of Juventus, which provides them with the legal umbrella, branding, sportswear and other types of services, such as gyms or sports advice. The managers of the Juventus Academy only have to ensure that the club is financially solvent, an operation that in the case of the Lloret club is settled with the income from the base football tickets. In exchange for all of this, however, the managers of the academies must guarantee Juventus a preferential right over other clubs interested in the recruitment of any footballer, both in the players of lower categories and in the amateur ones.
Juventus Lloret became part of this ambitious network of the Vecchia Signora thanks to Giuseppe Violi, an Italian settled in Lloret de Mar for years. Violi serves as president of the institution and, together with other Italians who reside on the Costa Brava such as the first president Gustavo Gregorini, founded the club in 2018 with only two grassroots football teams: a cadet and a men’s children’s team. Since then, the club has grown little by little and currently has five teams. In addition to the cadet and children’s teams, which remain, Juventus Lloret also competes in the junior and youth male categories and in the senior category, which will debut in Segona Catalana next year.
In addition to all this, every month the managers of the society pass follow-up reports of some prominent players who arrive at the offices in Turin. In these reports, some proposals for young talents that could be of interest to the lower categories of the Vecchia Signora are made clear, and in case they are ignored or amended, the managers of Juventus Lloret, who have proximity to some agencies of ‘scouting, they look for alternative routes. This year a young player has changed Lloret for Bologna FC and a couple of seasons ago two boys ended up in the lower categories of Lazio. In addition, the managers of the club, through these scouting agencies, have a direct relationship with Montpellier SC, which is why they organize annual friendlies between the base teams. President Giuseppe Violi believes that this is an added value: “The little one who plays in our club should know that he has a little more chance of joining the ranks of a big club, with which they can even win life”, he explains.
Even so, not all the history of Juventus Lloret has been flowers and violets. The Llorente club has the intention and the resources to still dream of climbing more categories, and this is what President Violi assures: “The idea for this coming year is to keep looking up. We want to compete in the league and promotion.” However, he is also aware that it will be complicated and that they will have to dedicate themselves to it, solving some internal problems first: “It is complicated for us, sometimes, because we play at Camp del Molí. We should find an alternative”, he explains. Lloret de Mar currently has two fields: the Municipal Football Field, where CF Lloret plays exclusively, and the Molí Field, which is shared by all the other clubs in the municipality. This leads to few hours available for each club, as well as the impossibility of extending them. Giuseppe Violi assures that finding a solution to this problem is the next step to follow: “We want to make a winning team and we will compete for the title wherever we play”, he says.
