Liga MX side UNAM Pumas announced on Saturday that it would "soon be opening a training center in Peru," according to XINHUA. Pumas Manager of Youth Teams & Licenses Abel Larrauri said that the announcement, "besides re-inforcing the junior leagues, will open up a range of opportunities for younger generations who want to get into football." The final details regarding the first center in Peru are expected to be announced in June. With this training center, Pumas will add to its 50 centers in Mexico and eight in the U.S. Larrauri said that there was "another project in the pipeline in Chile and did not dismiss the possibility of opening training centers in Europe and Asia further down the line." In total, there are 6,000 students younger than 18, divided into age groups from five to 17 years old. Pumas' "La Cantera" central training school has trained players such as Hugo Sanchez and Luis Garcia, who both played for multiple La Liga clubs. Larrauri said that the "methodology of these centers is so that young ones can get into football without necessarily having to be Mexican." For example, in the U.S. training centers, "Mexican, U.S., Chilean, Argentinean and even African children are involved." Currently, the club has plans to "open training centers in various parts of Mexico including the states of Veracruz, Chiapas, Baja California and Sinaloa." Larrauri: "Talent exists, Mexico is a football-loving country, therefore all we have to do is discover it, polish it and let it play here with the Pumas" (XINHUA, 5/9).
