Former Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos will lead the du Football Champions Clinic (duFC) training program in Dubai on March 17-18, it was announced on Tuesday.
The intensive two-day clinic will provide the UAE’s top 60 talents playing in the Schools and Streets Cup with the chance to showcase their skills in front of a legendary panel, which will include, besides Carlos, tournament director and fellow former Real Madrid defender Michel Salgado.
Carlos, 42, scored 47 goals in 370 appearances for Real and 11 goals in 125 appearances for Brazil between 1996 and 2007. He is perhaps most famous for his curling free-kick goal from distance against France in 1997, and won one World Cup, two Copa Americas, four La Liga titles and three Uefa Champions League trophies.
The clinic precedes the UAE duFC final at Dubai Mall’s Ice Rink on March 19, and is designed to mentally prepare players for that decisive showdown. Following the event, the top 60 talents will be whittled down by Carlos and Salgado to a final selection of just 10 players who will travel with the duFC winning teams to Spain for a training camp this summer.
Making up the top 60 will be lists of the top 20 players from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Northern Emirates. The Northern Emirates’ top 20 were announced last week and a further 20 names have now been announced from Dubai. Abu Dhabi’s top 20 should be finalised next week.
The du Football Champions is a 15-week seven-a-side tournament in association with Spain’s La Liga that sees 8,000 11-17 year-olds of all nationalities across 500 teams, from 200 schools, nationwide, battle it out from November 17 to March 19.
The winning teams and selected talents will fly to Spain for a specialist training camp in Marbella in July where they will take on the youth sides of La Liga teams Malaga, Cordoba, Sevilla and Cadiz.
