Official release from Chicago Fire
The Chicago Fire Soccer Club, in conjunction with Atletico Madrid, Club América and Sport Club Internacional announced today a strategic alliance enabling for greater relationships between the Fire and its partner clubs in Spain, Mexico and Brazil.
The new strategic alliance of Clubs, signed into agreement in Porto Alegre, Brazil Tuesday morning and arranged by Atletico Madrid, brings together clubs in the spirit of creating synergy as it relates to the growth of soccer on-the-field and off, while integrating different cultures and sporting and commercial club practices within eight clubs on five different continents.
"It has long been our top priority to build the Fire locally in Chicago and then expand the club internationally in a strategic fashion," said Javier Leon, Managing Director of Andell Sports Group. "Owner Andrew Hauptman's vision is to make the Fire one of the most recognized MLS clubs around the globe. This strategic alliance, integrating eight renowned clubs from five different continents, is indicative of our plans to expand our business and build meaningful and productive global relationships, in order to cultivate our business."
In 2010, Atletico Madrid established partnerships with clubs in Asia, the Middle East and Africa and has since sought out teams from each top-flight league in North and South America. The addition of the Fire, Club América and Sport Club Internacional brings the total members of the Alliance to eight, joining Al Ain (United Arab Emirates), Muangthong United (Thailand), Shangai Shenhua (China) and Raja Casablanca (Morocco).
The three new additions were selected in the hopes of strengthening the ties between the Alliance of Clubs and the North and South American leagues, as each club works towards player development, training methodology and the growth of each respective brand.
The Fire, Club América, Sport Club Internacional and Atletico Madrid convened today in Porto Alegre to discuss economic, social and cultural globalization as well as new technologies. One of the many facets of the partnership is to gain a greater understanding of interdependence and integration between the different markets around the world, opening the possibility of approaching new markets and identifying new opportunities.
Within the current agreement of strategic collaboration, all the allied clubs will be able to take advantage of a series of unique and exclusive opportunities, allowing each participating club to become more competitive, contributing a differentiating and exclusive value in an increasingly global world.
