Atlético de Kolkata appoints Alberto Marrero as their Sports Director and unveils the new team jersey

Chandigarh, 8th July, 2015: The reigning champions of the inaugural session of the Indian Super League, Atlético de Kolkata today kicked off in style, their campaign for the Season 2 of the tournament. In the presence of team owners Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Mr. Sourav Ganguly, Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, Mr. Utsav Parekh and Head Coach Antonio Lopez Habas, Atlético de Kolkata announced the signing of Sports Director Alberto Marrero, with a rich experience as Sports coordinator of Atlético de Madrid.



Sports Director, Alberto Marrero was born in the Canary Islands, and has played professional soccer until the age of 16. He had pursued Business Administration, Sports Management and MBA in Switzerland for 4 years. He has been working with Atlético de Madrid since the summer of 2008.

"I take this opportunity to welcome our Sports Director Alberto Marrero to Atlético de Kolkata family and believe that it is going to be an exhilarating experience for him. Our endeavour to assimilate the best possible team has further been boosted by Alberto joining the brigade. His experience at Atlético de Madrid, will positively add fervor to the overall team management."

- Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group, Co-owner, Atlético de Kolkata



Atlético de Kolkata also announced the signing of Valmiro Lopes Rocha commonly known as Valdo, former player of Levante and Osasuna today. Valdo is an attacking player who can play on both wings. He has significant experience playing in the La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League games. He has also represented Spanish under-21 team.

"Valdo's diverse experience playing in La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA will come in handy during a tournament like ISL. He will be an addition to the firepower which we have lined up for this season. His ability to play in both wings will hold us in good stead during the matches."

- Mr. Antonio Lopez Habas, Head Coach, Atlético de Kolkata











"We welcome back our champion Coach Antonio Lopez Habas to our team for the second edition of Indian Super League. His guidance and passion for the game will definitely boost the morale of the players and management alike."

- Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group and Co-Owner,Atletico de Kolkata



Riding on the last season's success, this year also the team will gear up for the second season of the Indian Super League with a three week training camp in Spain. The training module will be designed to get the footballers in right physical shape to tackle the challenging season of Indian Super League. Atlético de Kolkata would be training with the domestic as well as the international players under Head Coach, Antonio Lopez Habas. The team will depart on 25th August for the training session in Los Angeles de San Rafael training ground in El Espinar, Segovia, Spain.



"We have again taken the decision to train at the state -of -the -art facilities of Atletico de Madrid at Spain to achieve the optimal fitness levelwhich is required for the long tournament and back to back matches. This pre-season training will help them to regroup as a team and hone their skill further under the watchful eyes of our Head Coach and the training staffs."

- Mr.Sourav Ganguly, Ex-captain, Indian cricket team and Co-Owner, Atletico de Kolkata



As the first step towards building their squad for the upcoming edition of Indian Super League, Atlético de Kolkata has already recruited eighteen dynamic players which is a rich blend of both foreign and domestic players. The list includes retained players as well as open market signings. The footballers selected during the upcoming draft would also be joining the team for this training program.



"We at Atlético de Kolkata have started to build the team for the second season and have already signed some important players. During the upcoming draft on 10th July, we are expecting to sign up some more promising names from both international and domestic football fraternity."

- Mr. Utsav Parekh, Co-owner, Atlético de Kolkata, Chairman, SMIFS Capital Markets Ltd



Atlético de Kolkata is the winner of the first edition of Indian Super League. The franchise's dedication and commitment towards a sustainable growth of football is on top of its agenda. Atlético de Kolkata leverages on the over 100-year experience of Atlético de Madrid's sporting model of academies which enables them recognize and empower talent from the very grassroots.The franchise has Atlético de Madrid, Prince of Kolkata, Ex-captain, Indian cricket team, Mr. Sourav Ganguly; notable industrialists and luminaries Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group; Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group and Mr. Utsav Parekh, Chairman, SMIFS Capital Markets Ltd as its co-owners.



PROFILES:

Valmiro Lopes Rocha:

Valmiro Lopes Rocha commonly known as Valdo was born on 23 April 1981, is a Cape Verdean professional footballer. During his professional career he played for several clubs in La Liga, mainly Osasuna, Espanyol and Levante. Over the course of 12 seasons in the competition he appeared in 258 games, scoring 34 goals. In 2001, Real Madrid signed him for its reserve teams. He played 2001–02 with Real Madrid Castilla and, also during that season, received first-team opportunities in La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League games, with the Merengues eventually winning the latter competition. Valdo played for the Spanish under-21s



in the early 2000s. In late August 2011, he was called by the Cape Verdean national team for a match against Mali on 3 September, for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and made his debut.



Antonio Lopez Habas

Head Coach, Atlético de Kolkata

Antonio Lopez Habas is an ex Spanish footballer who has played as a defender and is currently the champion coach of the franchise club of Indian Super League, Atletico de Kolkata. He had appeared in 48 La Liga matches over the course of four seasons and was appointed as the head coach for the Bolivian National Team in two Copa America Tournaments. He had also represented Real Murcia, Burgos CF and Atlético de Madrid and in the year 1981-82, he had scored 13 astonishing goals in 32 games for Burgos. In ISL's first edition, Habas led Atlético de Kolkata to win the title.



Alberto Marrero

Atlético de Kolkata- Sports Director

Sports Director, Alberto Marrero was born in the Canary Islands, in 1987 and has played professional soccer until the age of 16 when a serious illness took over his soccer career. He had pursued Business Administration, Sports Management and MBA in Switzerland for 4 years, post which he landed up with an important job contract to stay and work in Switzerland. In the summer of 2008, he was offered to work for Atlético de Madrid, and since then he has been working in the Sports Management of the club.

Alberto started as a Scout, doing reports on players, it was for 2 years doing this job until Simeone arrived in December 2011 and had started working for him and his staff doing the written report of the teams the club was going to play next. Being appointed the Sports Director for Atlético de Kolkata is an important step in his career as a sports coordinator.



Important Honours:

2009-2010 UEFA Europa league

2010 UEFA Super Cup

2011-2012 UEFA Europa League

2012 UEFA Super Cup

2012-2013 Spanish Cup

2013-2014 Spanish League

2014 Spanish Super Cup

Originally Source : Perfect Relations