‘Future Falcons’ scholarship offers Saudi football talent pathway to professional careers in Europe

BARCELONA: In 2019, the Saudi Scholarship for Developing Football Talent was launched by the Ministry of Sports with the aim of providing young players from the Kingdom with a pathway to play the game at professional level at home and in Europe.

The program, “Future Falcons,” is targeted at Saudi youth aged 18 and above, and has since grown to include a base in the city of Salou, near Barcelona, Spain.

Those that qualify for the initiative get the opportunity to live in Spain under the supervision of international coaches as they train and compete in matches against European clubs.

Arab News visited the program’s base as the Future Falcons faced Dinamo Zagreb, with the Croatian youngsters eventually running out 2-1 winners.

Ghassan Felemban, general director of the program, explained how the initiative has evolved in the past few years.  

“In the third year, what we did was we actually started to provide Saudi players to (other clubs in) Europe,” he said. “One of the requirements for other clubs to join this tournament is to bring their scouts and to follow our matches, and then they have to provide trials for our players.

“I do believe that Saudi players have a lot of talent, the only thing they need is the opportunity, so this program is to give them the opportunity to prove themselves.”

In the past four years, the Future Falcon program has successfully signed 37 contracts with European clubs for its graduates.

“Eleven of them are active now,” Felemban said. “For example, Abdumalik Al-Jabel, he is now playing in the Bosnian championship as a starting player.

“At the same time we have Rayan Hamza Idris, he was playing in OFI Crete and now he is on a loan to a different team,” he said. “Mohammad Al-Rashidi is