Football club (FC) “Spartak” and the owner of the brand of football schools “Junior” agreed to cooperate. Within five years, they will open up to 450 Spartak Junior schools in Russia and the CIS countries, where they will play football for about 50,000 children, Vice President of FC Spartak Nail Izmailov and General Director of Sports League (owner of the brand “Junior”) Alexander Sementsov.
The League of Sports, according to its own data, manages the largest franchise network of junior football schools: today there are 433 institutions in 241 cities in Russia, the CIS, the USA, the Czech Republic and even Nigeria, where about 2,000 coaches train over 46,000 children from 3 to 14 years.
Sementsov opened his first school in March 2013 in Tomsk. Together with partners Igor Kovalev and Dmitry Starodubtsev, he invested 2 million rubles in the project, the entrepreneur told Vedomosti three years ago. Through a special platform, League of Sports partners cooperate with project developers, coaches receive a work plan, and parents get a connection with the school. To open a school “Junior” requires from 600,000 rubles. the initial costs of renting a hall, salaries of coaches and sports equipment. The franchisee pays a monthly royalty of 5% of the monthly proceeds, but not less than 10,000 rubles, Sementsov specified. In the regions, training at the “Junior”, according to his data, costs from 2500 rubles. per month when training twice a week, in Moscow – from 7000 rubles.
The first Spartak Junior schools for children 6-14 years old will open in nine cities of Russia, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula, Krasnoyarsk, and will be launched by junior franchisee partners trained at the Spartak academy, says Sementsov. The franchise of Spartak Junior schools at the first stage, like training, will not cost much more than in traditional Junior schools, he says.
Sementsov hopes that cooperation with Spartak will bring the company and the training process to a new level, so that the children have a prospect of a professional career – he and his partners do not have their own resources for this. For FC Spartak, the project is of strategic importance, says Izmailov: the club planned to open branches of the academy in the regions and the project with Junior are the first steps in this direction. According to him, this is also a continuation of the Spartak Kids project, the purpose of which is to attract young fans to the stadium. Sementsov says that partners – school owners will be able to sell Spartak accessories and paraphernalia. In addition, holding national children’s football tournaments under the Spartak brand will help identify young talents, create a developed national network of coaches and scouts, Izmailov points out.
“Spartak” and “Sports League” will work on the basis of a license agreement and an agency agreement, according to which the company will pay the club, says Sementsov and confirms Izmailov. They do not disclose details. Izmailov calls cooperation with League of Sports primarily an image project. The revenue of the League of Sports in 2017 increased by a quarter to 63 million rubles, net profit – up to 9 million against a loss of 3 million a year earlier, according to data from SPARK-Interfax. Spartak’s revenues, according to the club, in the 2017/18 season exceeded 3.8 billion rubles. (without sponsorship contracts), almost half accounted for income from television rights (all income from participation in European competitions is included), another 40% is the sale of tickets, season tickets and VIP boxes.
The project of Spartak and Junior is the first of its kind among Russian professional football clubs, says Sharif Galeev, head of the St. Petersburg branch of Deloitte. According to him, the business model of “Junior” made it possible to quickly create a solid network, but further growth requires a big name and investments: “This is a good investment in the future, a network of schools of this size is a selection of players and future fans.”
One of the strongest football clubs in recent years, Krasnodar, has been developing its own sections on the basis of the academy. In 30 branches in the Krasnodar Territory, boys aged 5-11 can train for free, says a representative of the FC Krasnodar Academy.
With the Spartak Junior project one could compare the FC Barcelona academy, which was opened three years ago in Moscow under a franchise. Now there are two schools in Moscow – on Khodynsky Boulevard and Novorizhskoye Shosse, said the head coach of BARCA Academy Russia Jordi Gratakos, two more, on Khodynka and Luzhniki, will open this year. He did not disclose investments in the project. The academy trains more than 500 pupils aged from 3 to 15 years, after the commissioning of new facilities, it will be able to accept another 700-800 players, says Gratakos. The cost of training depends on the age and the program – from 2000 rubles. per workout. Gratakos considers it incorrect to compare the Spartak Junior school with the BARCA Academy: “We are rivals on the football field, and outside are his friends”.
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