How many players trained at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will take to the pitch at the Parc des Princes, Wednesday February 14, during the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League (9 p.m.)? And how many of them have only known one team in their career? Only one Parisian ticks these two criteria: Warren Zaire-Emery, 17 years old. In the ranks of its evening opponent, Real Sociedad, the situation is very different. Around ten players remained loyal to the Basque club.
Behind the double confrontation for a place in the quarter-finals of the most prestigious European competition (return on March 5 in San Sebastian) lies a duel between two opposing models. On the one hand, a globally recognized club, which spends hundreds of millions of euros to recruit the biggest stars on the planet; on the other, a team which favors the local, without depriving itself of harvesting abroad, to enrich its method.
Like French coach Philippe Montanier, poached from Valenciennes in 2011 to launch promising young Basque players into the deep end. “Real Sociedad is an identity club in the noble sense of the termdescribes the man who officiated on the bench of the San Sebastián team until 2013. It’s a great anomaly to want to perform with local players in the globalization of today’s football, while English teams sometimes play without any English players. »
La Real – not to be confused with “the” Real, established in Madrid – has made its training center the cornerstone of its project. Each year, the club strives to include in its professional group at least 60% former residents of Zubieta (the name of the center). Unlike the Basque neighbor of Athletic Bilbao, whose team is only made up of Basques (in a fairly broad sense), Real however allows itself a contingent of “foreign” players – meaning non-Spanish and non-Basque – up to 40% of its workforce.
“The standard bearer of the region”
“Real Sociedad is a project of more than a hundred years, which remains faithful to its roots, its identity and its territory, while being based on strong social values”boasts to the World Roberto Olabe, its sports director. These values, which infuse all levels of the club, are even listed on its website: education, effort, honesty, humility, surpassing oneself, equality, respect, or even… the fact of being Basque.
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