Serie A club U.S. Sassuolo sign Puma deal

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U.S. Sassuolo Calcio have signed a deal with Puma which will see the sports brand become the official technical sponsor of the Serie A club.

The agreement has been called a long-term partnership with the exact number of years and financial details surrounding the deal not being announced.

The agreement covers the men’s, women’s and youth teams of the Italian club.

“We are excited and look forward to working with PUMA, one of the world’s leading sports brands,” Giovanni Carnevali said, CEO of U.S. Sassuolo Football.

“It is with great pride that our club partners with PUMA, with the clear objective of making more visible – even at international level – a club that, thanks to a strong ownership of the MAPEI group and a constantly growing project, is a reality that is getting stronger and stronger in the football scene.”

A centennial jersey has been developed in collaboration between Puma and U.S. Sassuolo Calcio to celebre the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the club in 2020.

An official store of U.S. Sassuolo Football will also be established.

“I am extremely happy with this new partnership with a club like Sassuolo,” Javier Ortega said, General Manager Southern Europe of PUMA.

“The club has a young squad with established champions and many promising talents, plays modern football and has a strong identity. It is among the most fun Italian teams to follow in addition to having one of the most interesting and sustainable corporate projects in Serie A. We really look forward to working with them.”

U.S. Sassuolo Calcio finished eighth in the 2019/20 Serie A season with 14 wins – the club was 32 points behind Serie A champions Juventus.

The club has previously won a Serie B championship and has been competing in Serie A since the 2013-2014 season.

On Friday, U.S. Sassuolo Calcio also announced the jersey numbers of its players in preparation for the 2020/21 season.

Serie A is set to begin on September 19, 2020.

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More than 220 coaches attend Football South Australia’s second NOVA Youth Club Championship workshop

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Image Credit: FQ

Football South Australia drew more than 220 coaches to its second NOVA Youth Club Championship Coaches Workshop in late May, underlining the scale of engagement clubs are generating through the state’s restructured youth competition framework.

The online session was facilitated by Football SA Technical Director Michael Cooper, who also serves as Junior Matildas Head Coach. Cooper shared observations from the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup and Australia’s qualification for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, giving club-level coaches a window into the demands and standards of elite international football.

The presenter line-up extended that international lens further. Lachlan Tosh and Cristiano Dos Santos spoke to their experiences in national tournament environments, while legendary Australian coach Tom Sermanni addressed the fundamentals of youth coaching. Colin Sanctuary from the University of Newcastle examined coaching language and its direct influence on player learning.

Themes running across the session included the primacy of long-term player development over short-term results, with presenters consistently emphasising technique, ball mastery, individual improvement, and decision-making under pressure. Coaches were encouraged to expose players to varied styles of play, facilitate practice outside organised training, and help young players retain possession longer in match conditions.

Post-session feedback pointed to strong practical value, with coaches singling out clear communication, relationship-building, and age-appropriate feedback as key takeaways.

The workshop series sits within the broader transition from the Youth Premier League to the Club Championship model, which ties coaching participation to championship points for clubs and CPD credits toward individual coaching diplomas. Six workshops are scheduled across the season, with four still to come.

1200 players to descend on Geelong for Football Victoria Country Championships as Regional Football Enters New Era

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Image Credit: Football Victoria

More than 1,200 junior footballers from across regional Victoria will converge on Geelong this weekend for the 2026 Football Victoria Country Championships, with players representing eight regions competing across the King’s Birthday long weekend at Stead Park and Myers Reserve.

The tournament, which has been running since 1978 and has grown into one of the largest junior football events in the country, takes on additional significance this year. It marks the first Country Championships since Football Victoria announced a restructured regional football model in December 2025, making this edition an early measure of how that new framework translates into competitive outcomes at the representative level.

Sixty-seven teams will compete across Under-11 to Under-16 age groups for both boys and girls, with finals day scheduled for Monday. All fixtures and results will be available through the DRIBL app.

More than silverware

FV Regional Development Manager Lauren Stevens said the tournament represented something beyond the competitive results it produces.

“The Country Championships are an exciting opportunity for players from across regional Victoria to come together, represent their region and create lasting memories both on and off the pitch,” Stevens said. “This tournament has a rich history and continues to play an important role in bringing regional football communities together while providing players with the chance to experience a high-level representative environment and talent identification opportunity.”

That dual function is central to what makes the Country Championships structurally significant. For many players travelling to Geelong this weekend, a regional representative tournament is the highest level of football they have experienced. For some, it will be the environment in which they first come to the attention of Football Victoria’s technical staff and pathway programs.

The talent identification dimension carries particular weight at a moment when Football Victoria’s participation numbers are at record levels and the pipeline from community football to elite competition has never been more closely scrutinised. The 2025 Annual Report documented a 14 percent overall participation increase, with junior football among the fastest-growing segments. Tournaments like the Country Championships are where that growth begins to translate into representative opportunity for players who live outside metropolitan Melbourne.

Regional football in transition

The timing of this year’s Championships against the backdrop of Football Victoria’s regional restructure adds a layer of context that will be watched closely by administrators and clubs. The December 2025 announcement of the new regional model represented the most significant structural change to regional football governance in the state in some years, and the process of transitioning Life Members from regional associations into the Football Victoria honour roll at last month’s AGM reflected the scale of that change.

How the eight regions perform this weekend will offer an early indication of whether the restructured model is serving regional communities effectively.

The Corrie Koppen Fair Play Award, introduced last year to celebrate the life and legacy of the late Cornelius Koppen, adds a dimension to the competition that sits alongside the on-field results. The award is given to the region judged to have played and conducted itself in the spirit of the game, a recognition that how communities behave at a junior tournament is as meaningful as what they win.

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