Athletic Bilbao and Benfica are entering a strategic partnership.

Benfica and Athletic Club have reached a collaboration agreement for the exchange of knowledge with the aim of improving youth academy processes and grassroots football performance.

The lines of collaboration between both entities address areas of methodology, recruitment, affliated clubs and performance analysis. For this purpose, they plan to organise working groups to develop joint research, conferences and seminars, as well as visits between the two clubs.

A Portuguese contigent arrived in Bilbao yesterday. They visited San Mamés and the Museum and then took part in a round table discussion led by Andoni Ayarza, Athletic Club's Deputy Director of Sport. In the afternoon, they travelled to Lezama, where they were also received by Andoni Bombín, the Club's Head of Methodology.

On Tuesday, they completed their visit by meeting with the heads of Lezama's Analysis Department before watching some first-team training.

Benfica's visiting group was made up of Nuno Mauricio (Head of Performance Analysis), Renato Jesus (Human Resources), João Copeto (Director of Information Technology Systems), David Sousa (Sports Data Scientist) and Rui Passo (Vice-President of Innovation and Technology).

Like Athletic, Benfica is sustained by Club Members and has very competitive sporting projects, being a benchmark in the recruitment of talent at a European level.