Dragon Force begin 2026/27 with training for 450+ staff | OneFootball

The 2026/27 Dragon Force season kicked off at the Fernando Sardoeira Pinto Auditorium with a session aimed at operations staff, coordinators, coaches, physiotherapists, psychologists and nutritionists. The professionals received training on the Codes of Conduct and the roles they will take on in the new cycle. At the end, the Porto delegation visited the FC Porto Museum as an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the Club’s history.

Describing this meeting as “a key moment for bringing together the entire universe of FC Porto professional staff who work daily in the Dragon Force football schools,” project director Ricardo Frey-Ramos set out the “goal of having 120 schools operating globally over the next four years,” reaching “around 11,000 children in the schools,” and increasing “the number of participants in events from 7,000 to 10,000.”

Pedro Pinto, coordinator of the national schools and Dragon Force events, highlighted the need to “convey the values, the ideals and how the project wants to work and be present across all schools.” João Ramos, coordinator of sports development and Dragon Force colleges, reinforced the same idea: “Our role is to shape professionals so that each one identifies with the identity of the Club and the project, and then train them so that they become ever more competent in carrying out their duties.”

After increasing the number of students in the national schools by 18% in 2025/26 compared to the previous season, Dragon Force begins the new campaign with 50 schools: 40 in Portugal and 10 abroad. The project has more than 450 staff members and was the first stage of development for 25% of FC Porto’s youth football players. The expectation is to surpass 11,000 students by December.

Ricardo Frey-Ramos, Dragon Force director

The importance of initial training “These initial training sessions are essential to bring together the entire universe of FC Porto professional staff who work daily in our Dragon Force football schools. After a well-deserved rest period, it is essential to get everyone back in tune and focused on what matters, which is our students, our athletes, the people we must support and develop so that one day, as is always our goal, we can feed FC Porto’s youth development system. We currently have 50 active football schools globally – 40 nationally and 10 internationally. We have more than 500 people working daily across the various football schools worldwide and, naturally, this kind of initiative is essential for us to share all the processes, procedures, our training methodology, our idea of the game, in short, what we want everyone who works here to uphold in each of the schools. Obviously, this is the work of a broad team, of a central management structure that plans and organizes so that, in coordination with everyone, it is possible to carry out the plan and so that we can achieve the goals we have set for the next four years, which are ambitious: to have 120 football schools operating globally.”

A path of growth “Expectations are always the best. We have a clear mission to serve FC Porto, and Dragon Force does this in several ways, not only through the football schools but also through the events we organize. Last year we reached the milestone of 10,000 children in Dragon Force, and during the next season we will have around 11,000 children. We had more than 7,000 children taking part in our events and the estimate is to have 10,000 this year, so expectations are always high. We work every day to make that happen, but nothing is possible without the commitment of everyone who works here. That is fundamental: to feel that this commitment exists, a great passion for working at FC Porto, in the service of FC Porto, and making so many children happy.”

Pedro Pinto, coordinator of the national schools and Dragon Force events

Learning throughout the whole process “The training process is a journey; it is not something that happens with just one or two training sessions. What we are experiencing here is a small initial program made up of three stages. The training is aimed at technical coordinators, but also operational staff, and there are days when we open it up to all areas of Dragon Force so that we can pass on all the values and ideas we want for our national schools. This is where my role in coordinating those schools comes in, because our goal is to be able to convey the values, the ideals and how the Dragon Force project wants to work and be present across all schools. So the first step is to contextualize and educate the human resources in the right way, and then we keep working throughout the season as well.”

From theory to practice “Everything we convey on the theoretical side is useless if things do not happen in practice. So tomorrow we will take this transformation onto the pitch and build the day-to-day reality of any of our Dragon Force schools. The various departments will take part and there will be an integrated approach to this training component, so that all staff, with their own eyes, with our feedback and our support, can understand what a normal day of activity inside a Dragon Force football school is and should be.”

João Ramos, coordinator of sports development and Dragon Force colleges

Empowering human resources “We are at a time of major expansion. We already have 40 schools nationwide, so we are talking about hundreds of coaches with completely different backgrounds, different experiences, different levels of development and, therefore, our role is to shape them so that each one identifies with the identity of the Club and the project, and then train them so that they become increasingly competent in carrying out their duties. We provide this initial training so that they understand what the Dragon Force project is and how they will fit into it, so that we can then develop a training plan throughout the season and ensure continuous progress and constant development for all coaches.”

Intensive training plan “At the moment we are establishing a training plan throughout the entire season, with ongoing training for all human resources, but also a specific training plan for each more specialized role within the coaching function, also taking into account each coach’s ability and level of experience and the fact that we have different levels of training complexity for each staff member, while also drawing on special training sessions with people from FC Porto, as well as from other areas that can bring knowledge and skills to our coaches.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.