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To celebrate the launch of X CRAZYFAST, the latest boot release from Adidas packed full of ‘AERO’ innovations, Adidas Spain gave the experience of a lifetime to the top Spanish content creators.
With all eyes on Miami after Lionel Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami CF, the city was the perfect choice for Koko DC, Adri Contreras, xBuyer, MiniBuyer, Laura Vizcaino, and Spursito, to live a football experience while promoting the new boots.
We used all of our expertise about North American football, the club, and the city, our home in the USA since 2018, to provide them with an amazing visit to Miami and unforgettable football moments.
ISL arranged for influencers exclusive access to the Florida Blue Training Center, Inter Miami’s training grounds, where they spent an afternoon playing and capturing some incredible content for their social media.
For our Managing Partner, Marc Segarra, having the brand and influencers coming from Spain makes the activation even more special: “It is always nice to welcome people from our country to our new home in America and be able to show them the access we have here in Miami and our relationship with Inter Miami. We are pretty excited that they have trusted us and we can make everybody feel at home.”
On October 27th, the group had another VIP experience, this time to watch Inter Miami in action in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final!
As they witnessed Houston Dynamo’s victory by 2×1 at the DRV PNK Stadium, the influencers enjoyed an extraordinary panoramic view of the pitch, premium service executive, and food & beverage.
It was a pleasure to be a part of such an unforgettable experience!
After a year of rigorous selection and scouting at the LaLiga Select Talent IDs and jetting off to Madrid with 118 talented young North American footballers to spend two weeks training in the Spanish capital in the second phase of the program, 3 players have been selected, and offered scholarships by LaLiga Select to continue their journey in Spain and spend two weeks training with LaLiga youth teams to further learn and grow into professional level players.
The players trained at the academies of three LaLiga Santander clubs: RC Celta, Deportivo Alavés and Levante UD. Here, the young soccer players lived the experience of being part of three of the best LaLiga academies, trained with their coaches, learned their methodologies, and experienced various activities and the culture of their host cities.
LaLiga Select, the first talent detection project launched by ISL and an international soccer organization in North America, landed in Spain in March to train 118 young players from the USA and Canada. The players were selected by LaLiga Grassroots scouts from a total of 12,000 participants across 14 events and tournaments across the US since January 2021.
“It is an honor to see LaLiga Select players train at clubs like Celta, Alavés and Levante. We knew it was a program with a lot of potential that was not only going to give opportunities to footballers, but also to LaLiga clubs that can now attract North American talent. We are sure that Jacobo, Abraham, and Everton will be an example for other athletes who dream of being able to play in Spain,” says Alex Isern, CEO & Co-Founder of ISL Agency.
Next month ISL and LaLiga Select will kick off it’s tour of the US in search of new talent at the upcoming Talent IDs and encourage young, passionate players to sign up as spots are limited.
This time around, ISL has secured the participation of Texas-based San Antonio FC and the San Luis Potosí-based, Liga MX side Atlético de San Luis in a friendly match in the upcoming pre-season, an excellent opportunity to play some top-level soccer before the season kicks off.
SAFC is to play Atlético de San Luis at the Taxan side’s home – the Toyota Field – on June 14 at 8:00 p.m. CT.
This friendly will welcome San Antonio FC back home after three-straight road matches from May 28th to June 11th. Visiting side, San Luis, recently advanced to the Liga MX quarterfinals after a penalty shootout win over Monterrey.
“It’s an important preseason match to find our form before the start of the tournament. We are very excited to show ourselves before our fans in the U.S. and start building bonds with them.” Severiano García, VP of Atlético de San Luis
Stay tuned for more match announcements and news from our Tours and Friendlies Department!
@islagency
ISL and USYF (United States Youth Futsal – a US Soccer member) continue to strengthen their relationship to expand futsal in the United States with a series of events in Kansas City, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Charlotte during the summer.
It is the first time that USYF will do summer events in the United States, and the events will continue to grow each year to increase Futsal.
Players will have the exclusive opportunity to learn USYF´s unique style that makes it different from the rest of the futsal organizations in the world. They will learn what it is like to train in a professional environment for a whole week, whilst having fun and showcasing their skills.
USYF Coaches will be delivering the training sessions and teaching the techniques of the largest Futsal body across the United States. The training has been designed for players of all levels to improve the underlying techniques of futsal accurately, consistently and at game tempo.
Our events will take place on the following cities and dates:
Kansas City: June 27 – July 1
Milwaukee: July 11 – July 15
Indianapolis: July 18 – July 22
Charlotte: July 25 – July 29
We would like to thank our partners at USYF and give a special shout out to legend Keith Tozer for his ongoing support.
For more information, please visit https://www.usyouthfutsal.com/summercamp
Stay Tuned for more events coming up! @islagency
ISL continues to support the development of US soccer by launching the first official recruitment platform of LaLiga for youth talent in the United States.
ISL, in collaboration with LaLiga, is launching LaLiga Select – a platform that will provide young American soccer players, between the ages of 13 to 18, the opportunity to showcase their talent and start a professional soccer career in a youth club from LaLiga.
The launch of LaLiga Select represents an important milestone for LaLiga in the United States, as it is the first legitimate scouting program for soccer players led by an international sports institution in North America. This project is part of an action plan drawn by the Spanish League and Relevent to contribute to the growth of soccer in the United States, while continuing to provide all resources and opportunities to help American talent in its preparation for the 2026 World Cup.
With these types of initiatives, ISL and La Liga are encouraging and facilitating the arrival of new American talents to Spain at an early age, such as Sergiño Dest and Konrad De La Fuente from FC Barcelona, or Yunus Musah from Valencia FC.
“La Liga Select aims to contribute to the development of young American talent, providing players an opportunity to showcase their potential, an experience that will step up their game, and , the chance to kick off their dream of becoming a professional soccer player and one day represent their country in the World Cup”,says Nicolás García Hemme, VP of Strategy & Business Development for LaLiga North America, “Our goal is to collaborate with local clubs to become their international recruitment arm and continue to add new locations every year in different American regions.”.
This unprecedented initiative will start in 2021 between June 21st and July 13th, with several Talent ID held across different cities in the United States, and is expected to gather thousands of participants. Approximately 60 players will be selected by LaLiga scouts to embark on a Spanish Showcase in Madrid. During a period of 10 days this group of players will train and compete with the best clubs in Spain under the supervision of different Technical Directors from LaLiga Youth Clubs, who will then recruit the best player from each age category to participate in a sponsored training camp with a LaLiga Youth Club.
LaLiga Select will open the doors of European soccer for American players, creating a quality reference in US soccer, while positioning Spain as an attractive market for young US players.
ISL’s player management arm, Tandhem, is one of the first sport talent and marketing agencies in Spain to open an international esports section.
In February 2020 ISL announced Tandhem, a global player management agency created to help athletes reach their maximum potential on and off the field, with a 360 degree management service covering representation, intermediation, marketing, and legal/financial support.
Now, not even one year after Tandhem’s launch, ISL’s “baby” is ready to expand in new directions and apply its full expertise to esports players and content creators.
“It only makes sense that we share our valuable expertise in soccer representation as well as our strong sports clubs network. Our proposal is to bring in the values and work models of traditional sports to help improve and develop the esports sector.” says Marc Segarra, ISL Co-Founder and Tandhem managing partner.
Tandhem Esports is a reflection of the brand’s vision to keep growing and expanding, always on the lookout for the hottest trends in the sports scene.
For this e-chapter, Tandhem is teaming up with Portuguese esports lovers and experts, João Carvalho, Founder of Prémios Esports Portugal (Portuguese Esports Awards) and ex-partner and founder of Braver Media Group, and Tiago Niza, who has worked in multiple countries and multinational environments, primarily focussed on RPA.
Tandhem esports has already signed 2 top LOL players: Francisco “Xico” Antunes, from BDS, and Amadeu “Attila” Carvalho from Vodafone Giants.
The vision of Tandhem Esports is to bring professionalism and integrity to a fast growing industry that not always operates with the organized and legal formats that we are used to see in traditional sports.
“We have the moral obligation – as entrepreneurs and passionate fans of videogames – to protect and nurture the centerpiece of this evolving market: the Player/Content Creator. They are the ones who add the most value to the market but unfortunately also the ones who are treated the worst. We intend to help by creating the support infrastructure that they need in order to become the best version of themselves.” explains João Carvalho, Tandhem Esports Co-Founder & Esports Director.
Just like the football section, the esports section will also offer 360º services: representation, intermediation, sponsorship brokerage, marketing, and legal/financial support.
Why esports?
Video games have experienced an exponential growth in the past 2 years, currently generating higher revenues than the cinema and music industries combined:
In 2019, the video game industry was worth about 145 billion $, while Box Office and Music were worth $42.5b and $20.2b, respectively.*
The esports audiences keep growing both online and offline, surpassing the number of spectators of the world’s most popular sports events such as the NBA finals: the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals amassed a staggering 44 million concurrent viewers while the NBA finals in the same year averaged 15.1 million viewers. *
Esports are not the future, they are the present, and both ISL and Tandhem want to actively participate in revolutionizing the way in which sports are being played and consumed by contributing to the continued growth and development of this fascinating new sector.
Sources:
* https://www.statista.com/chart/22392/global-revenue-of-selected-entertainment-industry-sectors/
* https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/2019/12/2019-world-championship-hits-record-viewership/
Spreading the “blau grana” brand on a new continent takes time, skill and dedication, but it is very rewarding when thousands of players are able to train like a real FC Barcelona player, while enjoying the best soccer experience in the country. Thousands of players learning from the FC Barcelona methodology over the years has helped raise the level of soccer across the country.
Through Barça Camps, ISL is helping FC Barcelona to increase their brand awareness around the globe, and to reach thousands of American families. A key factor in the success of the global partnership between ISL and FC Barcelona is the growth of the historic clubs fan base. Not only does ISL help develop the game across the United States, but it creates brand ambassadors who create a unity with the club that would otherwise be impossible.
Over the years, ISL ran camps have seen over 25,000 young players and families representing the FC Barcelona colors during the nationwide tour. We’re pleased to continue the partnership, and plant the FC Barcelona roots deeper into the fabric of the United States soccer market.
What makes heading into 2021 such a unique year, is the signing of young American soccer talent, Serginho Dest, to FC Barcelona. Dest is fast becoming a global star, and is a beacon of the ever growing level of soccer in the United States, which has benefited from partnerships like the one between FC Barcelona and ISL.
During June and July of 2021, from Monday to Friday, Barça Camps will be hosted at 25 different cities across the United States for boys and girls, separately, with ages between 6-17 years old.
The participants will be able to fully indulge in the Barça Philosophy with 6 hour practices where they will learn the same tactics taught at LaMasia, that have helped shape players such as Messi, Xavi, Ansu Fati, Serginho Dest and many others.
Barça Camps not only forms skilled players, but also and most importantly, Barça Camps is an essential learning experience for kids to grow and mature as individuals.
Don’t miss this opportunity and register now, before it is too late!
Yesterday it was announced that Innjoo, a technologies company, has signed a sponsorship agreement with Deportivo Alaves brokered by ISL.
Earlier this year, ISL inked an exclusive deal with the Healthcare arm of InnJoo, a Spanish based technology company, to act as their business development partners throughout the continental U.S. With the relationship spearheaded by ISL’s Bruno Diaz, and his long standing relationships with clubs around Europe, it led to the possibility of brokering this exciting sponsorship deal.
Innjoo will feature on the back of the shorts of the Deportivo Alaves players in matches during the 2020/2021 season. The financials of the deal are not released. This is the first major kit sponsorship deal brokered by Bruno Diaz for ISL.
Haritz Karejeta, CEO of Alaves, acknowledge the values of Innjoo were at the core of this relationship as well as how this deal continues to signify the international growth of the club. Karejeta was also keep to acknowledge the he valued the relationship established with ISL through this deal. In addition, the Marketing Director of Innjoo, Pablo Guerrero spoke to the core of this deal, “Innjoo identifies with the same values as the Baskonia-Alavés Group, a benchmark for life both in Vitoria and in the Basque Country”. He also stated that with the sponsorship Innjoo hope to “reach the people”.
Bruno Diaz, ISL’s key figure in the deal, said of the sponsorship “With relationships like Alaves and Innjoo who understand the value of sponsorship, and are open to find win win situations, it’s always a a pleasure to close such a valued partnership. We are sure it will be a long term deal.” Bruno also added “With this deal, we’re excited to help businesses in the future achieve their marketing goals through sponsorship.”
This is not InnJoo’s first foray into sponsorships, but it is a first in partnership with Alavés. We are looking forward to seeing this sponsorship relationship grow, as well as the opportunities this announcement brings to the ISL sponsorship team in the future.
Another summer camp tour across the nation has come and gone. Once again, in partnership with FC Barcelona our team traveled multiple routes with staff members to cities all around the country to instruct boys and girls in Barca values, techniques, style and tradition. From San Diego to Philadelphia, Austin to Boston, and Denver to Portland we hosted camps in over 16 different cities.
Unlike most summers past, this year was quite different for a number of reasons, but mainly due to the global Covid pandemic which forced us to scale back on the size of campers we are typically used to hosting, as well as the number of camps we plan to put on around the country.
Pre-Covid, our efforts to have another sellout summer of training and fun began it’s planning stages in Q4 of 2019, with routes being established, facilities being booked, coaches and staff committing to 7 weeks on the road, as well as the logistics of ordering uniforms for campers and the housing in each city. It’s a big deal to coordinate, but one our team thoroughly enjoys seeing come to life.
It was by mid-march when we first started to see what might lay ahead for the summer plans and all the hard work that had been put into place. Up until that point we were quickly on track to selling out camp at a record pace, but then the country started to shut everything down, namely ALL sports for the foreseeable future. As you can imagine, registrations nosedived almost immediately and facilities that had been locked down for months began to cancel agreements left and right.
One moment everything is moving along smoothly and then the next thing you know everything is out of your control, but not to ever back down from a challenge, we decided to take a step back to reassess the situation and to plan accordingly and in line with what government officials and the CDC recommended to make sure in keeping with utmost safety.
We scaled back our itinerary from the original plan of 40 cities nationwide to under half that to 16 camps, coast to coast. Our logistics team contacted and confirmed bookings with parks and recreation facilities. All of our coaches and staff were trained immediately in the correct procedures of keeping all of the campers safe, as well as each other. Commitments were made to wearing gloves and masks at all times at camp. Additionally, one way in and out check in stations were set up where campers were allowed to enter and leave facilities. With all of the logistics sorted out, we still wanted to emphasize an atmosphere of fun and growth for the campers. As one of the few companies hosting nationwide camps and expecting over 2000 registrants to participate we made this our ultimate goal, given the current global climate.
As we wrapped up week 7 in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, we reflected on the summer to date and how our commitment to keeping everyone safe was validated in the precaution and safety measures we took. 2 weeks after the fact we have still had zero Covid incidents for either campers, coaches or staff.
Thank you for trusting us this Summer and we look forward to making it back to your city in 2021. Be on the lookout for cam announcements in the fall.
In the past little had been known about this fast growing sport, or as some have referenced it as the little brother of soccer, but futsal is the only form of indoor soccer endorsed by FIFA. It earned the status of FIFA’s official form of indoor soccer in the 1980s as it was recognized as a scaled down version of outdoor soccer played indoors. It is a 5 v 5 small-sided game played on a hard surfaced, basketball sized court with a smaller, heavier low bounce ball.
Futsal is played with touchline boundaries and without walls. It is a game that most recognized outdoor soccer players around the globe play to refine and maintain their control skills and touch. Great soccer superstars such as Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka and Neymar grew up playing the game and credit futsal with developing their skills.
The mission of our indoor program is simple, develop top tier players and people through the uniqueness of this sport, all the while providing a comfortable platform for all to learn and advance on and away from the court. The philosophy is unconventional in that the overall approach is holistic and centers on the encouragement of individual creativity and player intelligence. In itself, futsal is a very distinctive game, and often takes players out of their comfort zones in order to stretch their skills to reach their next level. The goal in these circumstances is to help ensure players are constantly striving for loftier goals and succeeding.
Governing the success and growth of Futsala for ISL are Adam Brundle, Pedro Oliveira and Caio Maciel. This trio oversees academies in both Austin, TX and Charlotte, NC. Along with the support of the ISL family have taken a concept of humble beginnings and transformed it into one of the hottest programs in the nation.
Programs vary, depending on interest and individual development within the game, but can be specialized to fit specific needs of the player. There are 2 core categories that are open to players, with a week long summer camp option for all skill levels looking to continue to refine their techniques or simply check out the sport for the first time.
To break it down, Futsala offers a year round academy aimed at player’s 4- 18 years old with varying levels of background experience from beginners to experts. In addition, Futsala has a Classes & Sessions program, which offers players the opportunity to continue playing during holidays. This program is not exclusive, but rather open to all, but still ensures top level and quality coaching. Also, each player will be matched up with a group of kids to fit their needs and to ensure the optimum learning environment.
Since forming, Futsala has experienced a string of rapid successes for both players and coaches. It has even gained national and international attention for top level play on the court. Recently our ‘03 Barefoot-Futsala girls Team were crowned the National Champions In addition, there has been recognition at National ID’s, with twelve of our players getting invited to participate with the US National Youth Team.
Trips that were once just a short drive from home to the courts are now around the country and abroad to compete against the best the nation and world have to offer. It is a far departure from its humble beginnings, but a journey that is just beginning and with a big, bright future ahead. If you would like to have a futsal program near you, let us know.
