You may remember several months back when I had the fortune of speaking with Ivaylo Atanasov – an ex-Bulgarian footballer and current coach and sporting ambassador in the country. Previously he gave fantastic insight into what happens at the Zingonia training ground, and a look at what makes Atalanta’s youth academy tick. This time around, his hard work is paying dividends as he and his counterparts continue to secure partnerships with some of the most well-known sporting organizations in Europe. So enough of me talking, I’ll give the floor to Ivaylo!
Atalanta Passione: Given this is an Atalanta blog first and foremost, you’ve been working often with everyone’s favorite Bergamo club – what projects are you going to be working on with the club?
Ivaylo Atanasov: Yes, to my great joy, I managed to convince a club like Atalanta to work together. We made a connection before the beginning of the summer and a few weeks ago we managed to clarify the details and now the real work begins .For the time being, these are two areas related to youth football – training and internships for young Bulgarian coaches at the Atalanta’s Academy- where they can get acquainted with the work of the academy. They will have the opportunity to observe the training sessions of the teams in the academy, talk to the coaches, tacticians, physiotherapists, psychologists and anyone who is interested in their future work with youth football players in Bulgaria. The second thing we are working on is to send young Bulgarian players to training camps in Bergamo. In this way we will try to increase the scope of the scouting unit of the club in the Balkan region, where there is a huge amount of quality young players who would be of interest to Atalanta.
AP: You also are closely tied to the Gallini Cup (Youth Tournament in Italy) as a representative for Bulgaria, Serbia, and North Macedonia – what are your responsibilities as a tournament ambassador?
IA: My role as Ambassador Gallini Cup is to increase the interest of the Balkan teams in the tournament in Pordenone. This is a huge stage for young players, where for a few days they can compete with the strongest Italian and European clubs and show their qualities. I will give an example with our well-known Dejan Kulusevski. He took part in the tournament with his home club Brommapojkarna, Sweden. He played great matches and was spotted by the Atalanta scouts. A few months later he was bought and became a player of La Dea. The rest is history, as people say.
AP: It’s quite the honor to be a representative in an international tournament, how were you selected to be an ambassador?
IA: In the most difficult times, the most unexpected opportunities appear. You know how Covid-19 affected everyone in the world, and missing out on our favorite game. The organizers of the Gallini Cup conducted a survey among their colleagues about the possibility of a Balkan partner and my name was mentioned several times, as I have built good acquaintances and connections in the Apennines over the years on various projects. In the world of football, it’s all about work and relationships, that’s it.
AP: Does Atalanta have any specific ties to the Gallini Cup?
IA: Atalanta is a regular participant in the tournament and is often a winner in various age categories. But this also applies to other Italian teams, as the Gallini Cup has been an established tournament for the past 23 years. Scouts from all over Italy gather in Pordenone, where they watch players like Kulusevski, Caldara, Mitrovic, Calabria, Rugani, Kovacic, Vlahovic – a huge, huge stage for every academy and player.
AP: You mentioned that you like to replicate a similar tournament in the Balkans, what is your vision for this?
IA: Yes exactly. The first Gallini Balkan Cup tournament will take place next year. The idea is to gather in my hometown some of the strongest academies in the Balkans. Bulgaria is well positioned among the Balkan countries, being only 2 hours away from Romania, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. This will expand the number of participants in the Gallini Cup and will give room for more young players from the region.
AP: What other teams are you partnering with? If I’m not mistaken Barcelona is also one of them?!
IA: I can proudly say we added a huge club like Barcelona to the teams we partner with [Nick’s edit – not as huge as Atalanta! haha]. It cost us a lot of work and sleepless nights, but we managed to prove ourselves as a reliable and secure partner so that a club like Barcelona could trust us and choose to work with us.
AP: What is your main goal with these new partnerships you have recently secured? How has Atalanta assisted in helping your vision become a reality?
IA: We work on various football projects with clubs such as Atalanta, Barcelona, Chelsea and West Ham. We are also an official partner of Formula 1 and the tennis academy of Rafa Nadal. But everything we do is aimed at child athletes. We try to give a chance to the children from the Balkans, which we unfortunately missed when we were little. Because the region is full of talented children in every field, especially in sports- but we all know that in addition to talent and work, you also need opportunities to show your qualities.
I can safely say that all this is happening with the great intervention of Atalanta as a club. Because this activity started after my visit to Bergamo, where I got acquainted with the work of the academy. I left good impressions during my internship there and with the established relationships I wondered what I could do to help the growth of young players from my country and the Balkans. Because people in sports, not only in Atalanta, are open-minded, they want to develop, to share, they are looking for niches, undiscovered opportunities, because this is the only way to move forward together and do business. And in our time, football is a huge business and we need to take advantage of this so that we can pave the way for the next big names in world football.
A big thanks again to Ivaylo for sharing his story, and wishing all the best in his endeavors in youth sport! He is absolutely worth a follow on Twitter, so please go follow him at the link to stay up to date with his happenings!
