FC Dallas Partners with Brazil's Clube Atletico Paranaense
Published on September 22, 2006 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Dallas News Release
FRISCO, Texas (Friday, September 22, 2006) - FC Dallas President and General Manager Michael Hitchcock and Mario Petraglia, President of Clube Atletico Paranaense (CAP) from Brazil's Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, announced today that the clubs have established an exclusive partnership that includes a home-and-away series to be played in 2007. As part of the partnership, the two clubs will also explore opportunities to, in good faith, loan players to each other on a free basis. A third key component, with anticipation of Major League Soccer's announcement of a new Youth Development initiative, is for FC Dallas to learn the youth player development structure and coaching techniques and philosophies from one of the top South American clubs.
"One of our strategic goals at the beginning of the year was to align ourselves with three top clubs in Mexico, South America and Europe," said Hitchcock. "We felt that with Atletico Paranaense's success at the youth level, not only here in Dallas through their Dallas Cup championships but also internationally by seeing the players they develop playing all over the world, in addition to their forward thinking management team, makes them the perfect club partner in South America."
Through the partnership, the clubs will play two first-team games in 2007 with dates to be agreed upon by both sides. One game will be played at FC Dallas' home stadium of Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas and the other at Kyocera Arena, home of Atletico Paranaense in Curitiba, Brazil.
In addition to the games, the clubs' management staffs will also explore opportunities to learn from each both on and off the field. The teams will offer each other opportunities to acquire players on free loans, providing each club with an expanded base of professional players that could potentially form part of each other's rosters. Other elements include coaches' summits to observe coaching and scouting techniques, as well as player development programs. The organizations will also explore opportunities to co-host and market youth academies and camps in addition to opportunities for each club's youth teams to participate in tournaments the other's market.
Off the field, the management side of the clubs will jointly develop and work on future projects including: joint cooperative efforts regarding the growth of sponsors; cooperative efforts on soccer education programs; host business summits to develop mutual business relationships and strategies; and exchange best practices in the areas of business, marketing, ticket sales, sponsorship, broadcasting, and match-day commercial and entertainment activities.
The relationship between FC Dallas and Atletico Paranaense began when Atletico board member Frank Romanoski, who moved to the The Colony, Texas in June, and former Dallas Tornados soccer player Jorge Miguel, presented the CAP structure and philosophy to FC Dallas management in March 2006.
Paranaense becomes FCD's second international club partner, with Tigres UANL of Mexico's First Division being the clubs neighboring 'brother' through a partnership signed in March 2006. FC Dallas management is in talks with several European clubs to establish a similar agreement.
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ABOUT CLUBE ATLETICO PARANAENSE
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Founded in 1924, Clube Atletico Paranaense is one of 20 teams that play in Brazil's top professional soccer league, the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A. Also known as the Furacão (Hurricane), Atletico Paranaense and Parana Clube are two Serie A teams that are located in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, the capital city of the state of Parana. Long-time local rival Coritiba, also from Curitiba, was recently relegated to the Serie B.
Since 1995, when the current Atletico Board of Directors took control of the clubs managerial and strategic issues, Atletico won the Seria B championship and was promoted to Seria A. Since then, the club has seen tremendous improvements both on and off the field.
On the field, Atletico won its first Campeonato Brasiliero championship when it defeated São Caetano 4-2 in an aggregate goal home-and-away championship in 2001. Three years later, with the standing's leader at season's end recognized as the winner of the Seria A, Atletico finished in second place to Santos FC during the 2004 campaign.
Atletico has also played in three Copa Libertadores, South America's most prestigious club tournament. The club qualified for the 2000, 2002, and 2005 tournaments, posting its best result in 2005 when they defeated Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara in the semifinals before losing the home-and-away Copa Libertadores Final to Brazil's São Paulo FC.
Locally, the club has also won 21 Paraná state championships, a competition among the 16 soccer's clubs from all divisions from the state of Paraná, including five of the last nine state titles.
On the youth side, Atletico has had even greater success in recent years. In June 2006, the club's U-20 team captured the Saprissa Youth Cup in Costa Rica. A month later, the same team won the country's 32-team Belo Horizonte Youth Cup.
Atletico's youth teams have also had success in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In 2004 and 2005, Atletico become only the second team to win the prestigious Dallas Cup Super Group U-19 division in back-to-back years, with Spain's Real Madrid first accomplishing the feat in 1993 and 1994. In April 2004, Atletico forward Thiago Maier Santos scored an overtime 'golden goal' to give CAP the XXV SuperGroup title over Argentina Juniors of Argentina after a 1-1 tie in regulation. Atletico repeated as champions in 2005, defeating Mexico's Santos Laguna 1-0 to claim the XVI Dallas Cup Super Group. Atletico Paranaense did not participate in the 2006 Dallas Cup.
Off the field, Atletico built one of the most modern soccer stadiums in all of South America. On June 6, 1999, Arena da Baixada opened when Atlético Paranaense defeated Cerro Porteño of Paraguay 2-1. In 2005, the New Jersey-based Japanese company Kyocera Mita America, a leading provider of computer-connectable peripherals, acquired the naming rights of Atletico's home stadium in effort to increase their presence in the growing Latin American market. "Kyocera Arena" became the first corporate sponsored stadium in Brazil.
Atletico also built a world-class Training Center, which includes among other parts, an accommodation facility with over 100 rooms for both professional and amateur players; a state-of-the- art medical and physiological rehabilitation center; nine training fields and a mini-stadium; locker rooms, a fitness center, and an 25-meter swimming pool.
Although the whole infrastructure is mainly oriented for the development of CAP'S players, both professionals and amateurs, the training centre facilities are part of an international program available to the whole international football community, which include coaches clinics, youth development training camps, and pre-season training. The Brazilian National Team has been using Atletico's Training Centre facilities since its participation in the qualifying games for the 2002 World Cup.
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