Export FC – setting fires
Psychoanalysis and desire
For years, they had been called River Plate, after the renowned Argentine football team with which they maintain an ongoing partnership and to which they are grateful for its support in their early years. Sergio joined the club at a time when fundamental decisions were being made. ‘Perhaps the most important of these was to break away and continue on our own as a club. With our own name: Export FC‘
‘That’s why Pablo, Alejandro and Sergio, each in their own unique way, continue with the club and their commitment to people.’ The latter, says Sergio, also implies ‘working differently, to offer an alternative to the traditional way of playing football in Colombia. We want to allow dozens of children to use the club as a place for training, beyond sport.’
In their commitment to children and young athletes, their working group includes ‘a psychoanalyst, a group of nutritionists, physiotherapists and the club’s technical staff. They have children aged 3 to 17 who participate in six categories in the Antioquia football league. In 2025, they will also participated with three groups of footballers in the national league.’
In addition, they have an internal project called ‘Casa Club,’ in which they take in nine young footballers, providing them with ‘a home, a space for their training and education.’ Sergio says that the club seeks to ‘serve as a substitute for these young people.’
‘We don’t necessarily promise them that they will become professional footballers. We want them to use us to pursue their dreams, while at the same time taking them out of some complex situations.’ For example, there are cases of ‘young people who, from the age of 10, had to go out to work to find food, because they were basically alone in the world.’
‘Others in areas of armed conflict. Some worked on fishing rafts from a young age, adrift under the scorching sun in the middle of the ocean, where they spent hours and hours in the open air, longing to grow up. To grow up so that they could be the ones who dived into the sea to fish, as this would allow them to escape the scorching sun of that paradise where whales can be spotted.’
‘After fifteen years of experience in the world of football, of loves and disappointments,’ Sergio says that his path has not been easy. ‘Several times I tried to give up this sport, but I always returned thanks to the words of love and support from my wife.’
‘For his part, he has made use of psychoanalysis. He has begun to see and understand that out there, in the training of children and young people, there is something else that brought him back.’ In his desire, Sergio says, ‘you abandon the individual and move on to serving others who see sport as a refuge for their lives. There I see something beyond football, I see a relationship with life.’
