Moscow (AFP)

Paris SG officially opened on Saturday its first football school in Russia, just steps from the stadium that hosted the World Cup final in 2018, a new example of the club's internationalization policy.

"PSG aims to become the first big club of the new generation, the one that saw Mbappé run a few meters from here and win the World Cup," said AFP Fabien Allègre, director of development of the brand and merchandising, which says do not "doubt" the abilities of young Russians.

Located in the perimeter of the Luzhniki stadium, where the Blues had won against Croatia in 2018, this "PSG Academy" plans to accommodate 500 students from 3 to 13 years in its first season.

Provided mainly by local coaches trained in the "PSG method", the training will take place on a covered lawn in anticipation of the rigors of winter. They will pay, ranging from 12 to 32,000 rubles per month (from 170 to 450 euros), except for some goalkeepers selected.

"At the World Cup, France scored a lot of points here thanks to its undisputed dominance from start to finish," Judge Marco Trabucchi, an Italian sports agent, present at the inauguration.

"The level of young Russian adults is still not enough for the big European clubs and almost all the members of the national team play in Russia, but we see a lot of talents among young people born in 2003, 2004, 2005 ", he says.

In addition to the training centers of the historic teams of the capital (Spartak, CSKA, Lokomotiv), Moscow already has a football school of FC Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Juventus Turin.

Like other European clubs, PSG has organized in recent years internships and opened centers in fifteen countries, including Asia, the United States and Brazil.

video-rco / GGR

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