Rokhus Shokh Visits Atlético Madrid’s Base in Kazakhstan

Earlier, Rokhus Rokhusovich had traveled to Madrid, where he held a meeting with Atlético Academy Director Emilio Gutiérrez. The two sides agreed on a long-term partnership and future joint projects.

The visit to Atlético’s Kazakhstan base marked another step in that direction — Rokhus Rokhusovich familiarized himself with the academy’s infrastructure and held productive discussions with club representatives.

"We met the coaching staff, both Spanish and Kazakhstani specialists who are already working at the academy. We even spoke with the young players invited from different regions of the country — talented footballers born in 2012–2013. They are currently undergoing selection and trials.

I’m truly impressed. There is a visible positive shift in our youth football; a whole infrastructure is being created.

Children’s coaches from Atlético will work here, along with top specialists, including fitness trainers. They are introducing their own methodologies, sharing knowledge, and training our people. This is extremely important.

Excellent conditions have been created for the kids. There is a dedicated dietitian who oversees sports nutrition — everything is well-structured and based on set menus.

Accommodation has been arranged: two people per room, all styled in Atlético branding down to the smallest details — pillows, blankets, towels. On the walls are photos of footballers and Diego Simeone — different in each room. Even outside, there's the club’s symbol — a bear.

Part of the infrastructure is already in place: a superb 25-meter swimming pool, two gyms, classrooms for theory and team meetings, a dining hall — all at the highest level. A new, high-quality artificial pitch has been built and is already in use for training.

The overall concept includes six pitches: two grass and four artificial, as well as a full indoor arena. In the future, a 10,000-seat stadium is planned, as they aim to form their own team to compete in the professional league. That’s great: the kids will have their own club, their own banner here in Kazakhstan.

We should celebrate the emergence of new, modern, high-quality football academies in our country — with the infrastructure to train young players and build a new generation. This is not just a paper project — it’s real.

We had a good, fruitful meeting, and we hope that in the coming years, the Atlético Madrid Academy in Kazakhstan, if all regulations and licensing requirements are met, will be able to compete in the Freedom QJ League.

Some of the boys going through selection came up to me and asked, 'Will we get to play? We want to!' It was touching that they recognized me as the head of the project and said they really wanted to play in our League. That would be fantastic — I’m confident they could field competitive teams," concluded Rokhus Shokh.

As a reminder, Atlético Madrid will be the opponent of the Freedom QJ League All-Star team in the upcoming QJL All Star match.

The season’s main event will take place in the southern capital less than a month from now — on August 23.