New coach for Nakotnes liga team! As the season is fast approaching we are happy to announce that the new head coach of Valmiera FC/VSS is Stefano Greco, 39 year-old coach from Italy. He has also been named the new sports director for the academy.
Stefano has arrived in Valmiera with a deep spectrum of experience, having worked in multiple countries, teams, and academies. He began his coaching career in 2008 by becoming the assistant coach of the Casarano Calcio team. Four years later the Italian moved to the United Kingdom where he spent a part of his career. In his resume, anyone can find not only the United Kingdom but also the USA and Ireland. The year 2021 became the first in his career that he arrived in the Baltic states becoming the sporting director of FK Riterai as well as the head coach of the second team. Since 2023 he has been in Latvia, spending the previous season coaching the FS Metta U16 squad with whom he won the Baltic Cup. Since January Greco has been in Valmiera, has adjusted to the team, and begun his work at the helm of the academy.
Stefano Greco: ”Valmiera FC is one of the biggest clubs in the country when they came knocking – I couldn’t say no. The club has a winning mentality and a big potential in the academy. The first few months have been great. We are focusing on our youngsters, there are 2008 and 2009-born guys training with the Nakotnes Liga team. Of course, some players have dropped down from the first team but that is also very important because they bring so much experience and help the young ones to develop. The task is to always provide and prepare players for the first team. Especially focusing on developing the locals, so you can see more locals in the first squad. Given that we cannot be promoted in the league, the focus has to be on development. In the academy, we need to unify the ultimate vision. Right now we are defining the player that we want to build – we want to build someone that can be recognized and identified right away in terms of playing style, physical abilities, and tactical understanding. I have established a good connection with the first team coaches, our office is next door. With coach Jurgis Kalns we have discussed what players can be brought up for training etc. Nikita Cepelevs and Renars Minuss went to Turkey for the pre-season and it was a big boost of confidence for the young ones. There always has to be an open relationship between me and the first team because it’s good for the club and the boys. I have met everyone in the academy, some of the older coaches have a language barrier but I use what I call my guardian angel Marcis Erglis, he’s the guy who helps me to connect a link between myself and the academy staff. So far I think I have a good group of guys that are willing to embrace our project.”
