This Wednesday (16), Flamengo announced the new structure of its Youth Football Department, another step towards professionalizing the department, whose main objective is to continue the work conceived and carried out by Carlos Noval. The process began in April, when, after eight years as executive director of the Mais Querido's Youth Football Department, Noval assumed the same position in Professional Football. Leading the younger athletes, the director left an undeniable legacy of 77 titles, including three times the Copa São Paulo championship, in addition to being one of the main people responsible for the professionalization process of the red-black youth teams and the development of several Garotos do Ninho, including Vinícius Junior and Lucas Paquetá, today important pieces in the main team.

 

Get to know the professionals who are now part of the new structure:

 

With a background strongly linked to youth soccer management, Freeland has had stints at Botafogo and Cruzeiro, among other clubs. At both, he won the Brazilian U-20 championship and left a lasting legacy. He arrives at Flamengo to manage the club's youth soccer team and continue the work Carlos Noval has done over the past eight years.

 

With a postgraduate degree in Marketing and Sports Management, he first worked at Flamengo as an intern in the Futsal Department and later as an observer on a community-based project. After professional stints at Audax and Botafogo, he returned to Flamengo in 2013, at the invitation of Carlos Noval, as Technical Coordinator for the U-14 to U-17 categories, also taking on the coordination of the U-7 to U-13 categories the following year. His main objective was to develop a vertical methodological process for the club's youth soccer. Since then, he has won dozens of titles, including two Copa Brasil and Copa Nike titles (U-15), two Carioca and Adidas Generation Cup titles (U-17), and the Dubai International Tournament (U-16), defeating Borussia Dortmund in the semifinals and Real Madrid in the final. Along the way, he helped develop several athletes, including Vinícius Junior.

A Flamengo youth product, he played 105 matches for the Manto Sagrado team as a left-back and won several titles, including the 1999 Mercosul Cup and three state championships in 1996, 1999, and 2000. After retiring from professional football in 2012 with Audax, he trained and has served as Technical Coordinator of Flamengo's U-20 team since 2014. A state champion and two-time São Paulo Cup champion, he now takes on a new and crucial role within the new structure of the football system: that of Transition Coordinator between Youth and Professional Football. Leo Inácio will assume his new role starting next Monday, immediately after the U-20 State Championship final.

 

A native of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, he began his career in 2008 as a youth coach at América Mineiro. In 2013, he coached Botafogo's U-17 team. He then took over the Tupi professional team, where he remained until 2015, becoming Technical Coordinator. His most recent position was at Tupynambás (MG), a club with which he achieved two promotions in three years and which will compete in the first division of the Campeonato Mineiro in 2019. Ludyo arrives at Flamengo to fill the position of Technical Coordinator for the U-20 team, previously held by Leo Inácio.

 

With a degree in Physical Education, he began his career at Flamengo in 1984 as an intern in the soccer and futsal schools. Having worked at several other clubs, including Fluminense and Madureira, he was a Technical Consultant at Traffic from 2010 to 2013 before finally returning to the Mais Querido in 2016, as a physical trainer for the futsal and field soccer teams from U-8 to U-11, as well as a teacher for the recruitment and selection of athletes for the club's youth teams at Ninho do Urubu and CEFAN. In 2017 and early 2018, he was a physical trainer for the U-16 and U-17 teams and now assumes the position of Technical Coordinator for the U-14 to U-17 teams, previously held by Kadu Borges.

 

With a degree in Physical Education, he began his career in 2005 as a physical trainer and coach for Futsal at Casa de Espanha, where he remained until 2010. Between 2010 and 2015, he was the Futsal Supervisor at Botafogo, also working in field soccer during this period, more specifically in the lower categories, up to the U-14, winning 20 state titles in all categories, in addition to three times the Taça Brasil championship for the U-15, U-17 and U-20 teams. He arrived at Flamengo as Futsal Supervisor in 2016 and became Technical Coordinator in 2017, a position he will maintain in this new structure.