Sevilla Light the Way for Middle-Ranking Clubs

Many of Europe's more modest clubs will have cast envious eyes at Sevilla when they lifted a second successive UEFA Cup.

Many of Europe's more modest clubs will have cast envious eyes at Sevilla when they lifted a second successive UEFA Cup after a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over fellow Spaniards Espanyol on Wednesday.

However, this was no fairytale victory, no flash-in-the-pan triumph by a bunch of upstarts who had gate-crashed a European final.

This win was confirmation that Sevilla are making a mark on the continental stage, and intend to do even better.

Football clubs, big and small, would do well to look at the Andalucians and take a leaf out of their book as to how to build success on solid foundations.

There is no foreign billionaire behind this club, no sudden cash bonanza from a multinational investment company, no controversial real estate deal that has saved the institution from collapse.

Instead Sevilla have based their success on a combination of the careful nurturing of local talent, the ability to spot a good player and skilful management of their resources.

Six seasons ago Sevilla were in the second division, their finances were in a mess and they looked set to set to remain one of Spain's "yo-yo" clubs who spent their time in and out of the top flight.

Fortunately Andalucia has traditionally been a hotbed of footballing talent and the club began to exploit this resource to the full to engineer its revival.

Club president Jose Maria del Nido, a lawyer who once claimed he was the second most important man in Seville aside from the Pope, has proved to be an astute operator.

BALANCED BOOKS

His ability to squeeze the last cent out of big sides means that they have paid top dollar for Sevilla players and the club's books have been balanced successfully.

The sale of Jose Antonio Reyes to Arsenal and Sergio Ramos and Julio Baptista to Real Madrid raised over 80 million euros after an outlay of almost nothing.

At the same time sporting director Ramon "Monchi" Rodriguez has shown himself to be one of the best talent spotters in the land.

While other clubs chase big names on the transfer market, Sevilla look for young hungry players or those who have not yet been exploited to the full so that they can make their names at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Baptista, for example was a relative unknown when he signed for Sevilla from Sao Paulo in 2003 for three million euros. Wingback Daniel Alves was plucked from Brazil when he was just 19, well before other European clubs became aware of his talents.

Keeper Andres Palop, the hero of their UEFA Cup campaign, was brought in when few other clubs had spotted his skills as understudy to Santiago Canizares at Valencia.

Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen and explosive Russian striker Alexander Kerzhakov are two further examples of shrewd signings of relatively unheralded players.

While Sevilla have flourished, other, more established clubs, have squandered millions on poor deals and have fallen behind Sevilla in terms of recent achievement and immedaite potential.

YOUNG TALENT

Sevilla have also made a virtue out of the necessity of bringing on young talent. The skinny right winger Jesus Navas is the latest in a long line of supremely skilful local players who were thrown into the first team as teenagers.

Other rising stars like Alejandro Alfaro and Diego Capel are just as promising and look certain to follow in his footsteps.

Unlike Real Madrid, for example, Sevilla have granted these youngsters the opportunity to shine in the first team, giving them valuable experience, guaranteeing a degree of loyalty and even ultimately increasing their value in the transfer market if and when they move on.

Credit too must go to the club's last two managers.

Joaquin Caparros laid the foundations of the present success by instilling a powerful team spirit and ruthless desire to win.

Present boss Juande Ramos has built on Caparros's work and made an art out of rotating his squad and conserving his players' energies in three competitions this season.

The result is that, unlike Real Madrid and Barcelona, no player has felt marginalised or undervalued.

Ramos has also kept the fans happy by retaining a commitment to high-tempo, attack-minded brand of football that has provided both entertainment and results.

Few commentators would argue that Sevilla have consistently been the most attractive side to watch in Spain this season, at the same time as being successful.

Sevilla tore Barcelona apart to win the European Super Cup at the start of the season and have become the first side to make a successful defence of the UEFA Cup since Real in 1986.

They are in the final of the King's Cup and still have a chance of winning the league. Not a bad season by anyone's standards.