Expert from Barcelona who knows "the soul" of football: Serbia always has top players, but one is the most recognizable!

If you had to chose ideal setup based on popularity and "the strongest marketing" players, you couldn't fit them easily. You would have it easy for attack only.

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- It is difficult to conclude such a setting because the marketing potential have mostly attackers, much higher than, say defenders. But no matter, goalkeeper would be Manuel Neuer or David de Gea. Defense or middle would be players like Gerard Piqué, Sergio Ramos or Thiago Silva, and in the attack would be icons like Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

This is said by the man who has football in his little finger - director of Sports Institute Barcelona, Diego Valdes. The Spaniard has worked for years as a journalist, then as a consultant in giants such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, even in the Premier League and FIFA.

Okay, in the above places there is no place for Serbian football players, but our interlocutor knew to tell us who has the potential for that.

- He said that the most recognizable Serbian players in this moment are Nemanja Matic, Aleksandar Kolarov and Branislav Ivanovic. Many football lovers know them since they play in the strongest clubs if Premier League. If i had to chose one with the biggest marketing potential, then it would be Matic, considering that he is in the top of his career and he has few more years to play in the national team - explains Valdes in the talk for Telegraf.

Foto: Guliver/Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images

According to him, we shouldn't worry about the recognizability of football players.

- Serbia always had top quality players. The proof for that is that we see a lot of Serbian players in big clubs in Europe. I am personally familiar with situation in Superliga, but i know how dominant Red Star and Partizan are. As far as national team goes, the fact that it did not qualify on several great competitions reduced its visibility on world level. 

Sporting success is the most important factor when analyzing the popularity and international recognition of football clubs, explains Valdes.

- Especially for Serbian clubs that have had more success in European qualifying. If I'm not mistaken, none of them plays in the Champions League and the Europa League, which means that clubs need to improve the structure. In other words, to make a true development of players and management "out of bounds" to ensure that the club is competitive. Once improved structure, clubs may focus on how to improve the visibility of the marketing plan.

Foto: Marko Todorović

This is just one of the topics in detail lectured at the Sports Institute of Barcelona.

- Our programs are designed as a bridge between the academic approach to sports management and the real working environment in the industry. Even 90 percent of our courses can be listened to online, around the world, we offer training in sports management in football. The main three objectives for all students are to provide them with the knowledge, contacts and career guidance to make them capable to start a professional career in such a demanding sector such as football.

SKILLS AND "COOL" FACTOR - WHAT AFFECTS FOOTBALL PLAYER'S RATING?

We live in an era of division between those who prefer Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but out of the two of them, his marketing capabilities are best used by Neymar, considers Valdes.

Foto: AP/Tanjug

- In addition to skills in the field, which is the number one, many factors are key roles for marketing analysis. These are items such as age, attitude and behavior, "cool" factor, rebellion and solidarity in the community and physical appearance... all play a part in popularity. Even life partner of players may be a factor, as we saw in the case of David Beckham, and even some players today who have wives and girlfriends from the world of sports and other entertainment industries.

Football is an industry, and the decision of Spanish Primera showed it again when they decided to put the term of next El Clasico in the unpopular time of the day when Europe is in question.

- It is obvious that the league is looking for ways to expand into new markets in order to remain competitive with other competitions such as the Premier League and the Bundes League in particular. In my opinion this is a good decision, because the noon appointment in Europe means to "catch" and the audience in America in the morning, and in Asia in the evening. The challenge of global competition and the big clubs is to find a balance that would keep both local and international fans worldwide - said Valdes.

Foto: Tanjug/AP

The first El Clasico game of the season is in Barcelona.

- I would say that the day of El Clasico is special, but the whole week preceding it. Days before the game the streets are talking about it, the media constantly announce it, generally everything is true "hype". An entirely different feeling is during the day. Tension is growing and everybody impatiently anticipate the start. It is a really special match, and if anyone has the opportunity to watch it live, i warmly recommend it. It is actually very hard to get the tickets for one of the greatest matches in football, and they reach high prices - said Diego Valdes, on of the speakers on the conference "Football Fest".

Otherwise, if you were creative, you can win two tickets for El clasics, with all the air tickets and accommodation in Barcelona. Read more >>> HERE.

Foto: sbibarcelona.com

(Telegraf.co.uk / B. Mekic)