The Partnership: AC Syracuse and Rierasport (And Q&A with the Owner)

One of the most beautiful things about the game is the partnerships. A partnership in soccer helps to expand reach, and create something special beyond borders. Recently in NISA we've seen a cool one, Chattanooga and their partnership with Wolfsburg. Really they're all over lower league soccer here in the US, and there's another one recently signed today worth talking about!

Rierasport is a futbol company based in Barcelona, Spain. Their main goal according to Rierasport.com is to create "The dream of any player is to become a professional someday and play with the best ones in the elite." They've helped grow players to become professionals, all through their academy and training techniques. They've used some of the coaches of lower division clubs in Spain to help develop their players, and have signed partnerships across Spain. But recently stretched their growth, signing a partnership deal signed with AC Syracuse of NISA.

To get more details for our readers about this new groundbreaking partnership, we did a Q&A with the club's owner Sam Belhseine.

How did the club and Rierasport get in touch?

"We connected with Rierasport a few months ago. We had been following their progress for some time and felt they would be great for a potential partnership with our club. Their great program and academy sparked mutual interest and a connection was formed. ACSyracuse felt we would be able to mutually benefit each other."

What do you envision this partnership as for your club?

"We envision a great partnership between the two. We would like to continue to find more ways to connect the two programs and academies in many different ways. Between ACSyracuse and RieraSport, there is a lot of experience that can help future players, coaches and communities. One of the main visions for these partnerships is to create a system where players can travel from the United States to Barcelona and compete in competitive soccer as well as get a high education in their schools and colleges as well as learning and developing a better understanding for their culture and community."

How do you plan to expand with Rierasport into Morocco, Canada, and other places?

"We will have an academy in Morocco and our plan is to expand into countries like Canada. ACSyracuse continues to emphasize how we would like to build bridges with other countries and programs. We would like to allow for players from other countries to travel here to play or other countries."

Do you think this partnership can help grow both parties?

"Yes definitely, soccer in the United States and Canada is growing fast and we believe these connections can help expand the market by bringing in talented players and sending talented players to other countries. We also feel that this will help the players grow. By sending players to different countries, players will be able to learn new languages as well as learning these different cultures. The same goes with players and coaches coming here to the United States." Will this partnership be similar to other partnerships in the game?

"This partnership is not as similar to other partnerships. It is not just about soccer, it's about education, culture and growth. We feel there is a lot of opportunity for growth outside of the game. This makes it different from other partnerships in other clubs. Our Partnership with Rierasport had a High Performance Center in UE SANT ANDREU ACADEMY with 111 years of experience addressing all tactical and technical aspects of the game, such as team cohesiveness, skills and mobility to advance the amateur and professional careers of young men and women. Rierasport uses local methodology with the best coaches of UE.SANTANDREU, CE.JUPITER & KAPTIVA SPORTS which is aimed to maximize individual performance resulting in well-developed and intelligent professionals. We evaluate and qualify potential professional athletes for future work either as players or in the different branches of the professional field (coaches, managers, etc. )"

This is certainly a very exciting thing in NISA to keep track of. AC Syracuse is creating a partnership that will expand globally, and it's something that is very interesting to see. Stay tuned on more news related to this!

Check out more about the news on the AC Syracuse social medias, and right on their website too.