Sifup, the Chilean union of professional footballers, trusts in Johan Cruyff Institute education

The agreement with Sifup will allow more than a thousand players from Chile’s three professional football divisions to access the academic education at Johan Cruyff Institute with partial scholarships

Johan Cruyff Institute has signed an agreement with the Chilean Union of Professional Football Players (Sifup, from the Spanish), which will benefit more than 1,120 players from the three professional football divisions in Chile. The agreement, formalized through the sport management agency Solo Cracks, which is run by our international agent, Edgar Merino, will enable Sifup members to get education, with scholarships of 20% and 30%, in Sport Management, Sport Marketing, Football Business and Coaching, and prepare their transition to the labor market once their careers as professional footballers are over.

“It is a great opportunity for our players who want to prepare themselves in sport management to become sport directors, technical managers, marketing managers or have some other management role in the world of football”, said Gamadiel García, president of Sifup. “The normal thing for a footballer is to study to be a coach, but with this we open the range of possibilities for our members”.

Edgar Merino, Johan Cruyff Institute’s representative in Chile and director of Solo Cracks, the first agency specialized in women’s football in Latin America, believes that “for Sifup members it is a great way to prepare for retirement and to continue to contribute from a management position. Sporting experience combined with education at Johan Cruyff Institute is the perfect mix for when they need to take on new professional challenges in football”.