Lionel Messi’s former trainer, Arseni, and two of his colleagues Xavier and Oscar from Barcelona FC have arrived in Vietnam for the Qatar Aspire Academy’s ‘2012 Football Dreams’programme.

The experts have been travelling across the country, starting from Ho Chi Minh City, to seek out young football players to participate in the second round of the programme, which will run until July 29.

Arseni has great passion for discovering young football talents. He stood for four hours in the blazing sun and sweltering 40oC heat in the central province of Nghe An watching children play football.

So far, 62 young players have been chosen by the three trainers. All of them were born in 1998 and 1999 and have strong wills as well as a genuine love for the sport.

The final stage of the programme to select the best players to receive scholarships to the Academy is scheduled for Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City from August 6-8.

Besides acquiring football techniques, the scholarship winners will also study foreign languages, including English, French, Spanish and Arabic, as well as sports medicine, biology, economics, marketing, communications and sports management.

During their three-year stay at the Academy, the students will receive a monthly scholarship of US$275 for the first year, US$300 in the second and US$325 in the third. Their families will also be provided with US$5,000-US$6,000 per year.

Arseni came to Vietnam in 2006 as the first assistant of the Barcelona B team competing in the Honda Cup tournament in Hanoi. He was a teammate of Barcelona head coach Vilanova and trained the world’s best player, Lionel Messi, when he was on the club’s U14- team.

VOV