The Victorious third season to go beyond TV to unearth future Arab football talent

The third season of The Victorious, a Dubai-based reality television show designed to discover Arab football talent, begins on March 6. Its organisers have spoken about this season, and big plans for the show’s future.
The breakdown
Now in its third year, the show charts the contestants’ journey from casting in their respective countries to what they hope will be the opportunity to play for a major international football club. This season, The Victorious searched for talent in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya and the UAE, attracting 10,000 submissions.
The top 40
For the first and second episodes, 40 contestants will battle it out for 20 spots, from where they will take part in various competitions and trials at Dubai Sports City (DSC). There are 12 episodes in all, all filmed at DSC, with the contestants battling it out for the grand prize of $100,000 (Dh367,000) and the chance to play for a major Spanish club. The past two winners are Moroccan Youssef Al Watani and Egypt’s Ayman El Ghobashy.
The star game
This season, the panel of judges includes Mohamed Zidan, the former Egypt international and Borussia Dortmund forward, and Michel Salgado, the former Spain and Real Madrid defender who has been heavily involved with the show since its inception. He also serves as coach to contestants. The Victorious will feature famous international footballers each week, including Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, Steven Gerrard, Carles Puyol, Ronaldinho, Brazil’s Ronaldo and Paul Scholes.
The future
Intent on maximising the programme’s pull, organisers have already looked at the next stage in its development. They plan to set up The Victorious academies to run off air and to continue honing and promoting Arab talent. Aspiring footballers will be brought to Dubai, where they will train not only to prepare for competing in the show, but with the ultimate goal of preparing them to become professional footballers.
Jehad Al Muntasser, former footballer and the show’s creator
"We really wanted to do something for the Arab youth. This is our objective: to help and give a chance to all those kids who have difficulty in finding opportunities. This year we have some amazing football legends who’ll come to us and support us and everyone who’s been in the show sees and appreciates what we’re doing for Arab kids. Thanks to the production and Dubai Media Incorporated, we’ve reached a level of quality that’s recognised worldwide. We have interest to export the show internationally, because the format is unique, but we focus on just improving on what we’re doing at the moment."
Michel Salgado, former Spain international and Real Madrid defender
"We did amazing things with Arab kids, not only just because we change some of their lives and some of them are already playing in Europe. The other thing is the experience all of them live. You cannot imagine the stories we get every single year: kids without parents, kids with nothing. But the only thing they have is the talent to play football and not many chances in their country to do it, for so many reasons: religion, no organisation, no chance to play in an official league, infrastructure. It’s amazing when I go to the casting. That’s the toughest moment — when you go to the casting for 20 days around the Arab world and you see a lot of kids with potential but with no chances. It’s not only the show, it’s way bigger than that."
Luis Figo, 2000 Ballon d’Or winner
"I know the Arab countries are places that have so much passion about football. I know how difficult it is to be a professional and more probably for these kids, who don’t have the opportunity to become professional footballers. This is a great vehicle and tool to give them the opportunity to come to a professional level. Some talent you’re born with and the other you have to discover. So it’s always fantastic to find ways that they can follow their dream to play football. In this case, this show does fantastic work in the Arab countries to try to find that talent and to find the players who don’t have the possibility to show themselves in the local clubs and academies."

Source: The National