It is not usual for the appearance of a new club on the footballing scene to be surrounded by so much expectation, unless the cradle of the nascent team is the glamorous Principality of Monaco, the parents are the ambitious owners of the Racing City Group, Morris Pagniello and Justin Davis; the godfathers are several international football stars, such as Adil Rami, Achraf Lazaar, Jeremy Menez and Valerie Gauvin; and the main witness is the president of the National Council, the third highest authority in the country, Thomas Brezzo.
Surrounded by all these partners, and in the same place (the exclusive Le Meridien hotel in Monte Carlo) where he signed his contract with AS Monaco 25 years ago, the legendary Marco Simone presented Monaco United to the world. It is a club that was born with a huge desire to grow and to become an international reference in a short period of time. For the moment, the axis on which the project will revolve will be the women’s team. “We want to create one of the biggest and best clubs, and be one of the leaders in women’s football, which involves significant investment,” said Davis
It is very important to develop women’s football. Look in the mirror of Paris or Lyon, but it is about building something solid, without haste
This team will start in the fourth or fifth division and hopes to reach the top flight (D1 Arkema) “in four years”. Pagniello was much more ambitious, already thinking about playing in a Women’s Champions League final. Former French international Valerie Gauvin was enthusiastic but cautious: “It’s very important to develop women’s football. Look in the mirror of Paris or Lyon, but it’s about building something solid, without haste.”
Simone, who cited the work being done in Spain or England with women’s soccer, stressed that “I believe in this project and in the investors”. She also revealed that they will incorporate players from “France, Italy, Spain, Latin America and Africa”. “It is not a project to be taken lightly,” added Davis, while Pagniello pointed out that the Monegasque capital “has a huge sporting and cultural tradition, but there is a lack of enthusiasm for women’s soccer and we are going to make a significant investment. We want to have local talent and international players”.
It will have an Academy
In addition to the women’s team, which will be the cornerstone, an academy will also be created with numerous youth teams and a senior men’s team. Asked about how coexistence with AS Monaco can be, Simone said: “We are not here to disturb or enter into conflict, but perhaps to improve competition. This is the basis for growth.”
When they told me about the project, about Monaco, about the ambitions… it only took me 15 seconds to say: ‘Wow, this is huge!
Adil Rami, world champion with France and who played for Valencia and Sevilla, among others, finally spoke. Simone, half-jokingly, announced him as “our first official signing!”. With his usual charm and laughter, Rami picked up the gauntlet and said he was ready to put his boots back on and play a few games: “I always dreamed of playing for Monaco, so there you go”. And he added: “When I was told about the project, about Monaco, about the ambitions… it only took me 15 seconds to say: ‘Wow, this is something huge!'”
This project seems to be in line with the size of the Racing City Group, which has 12 football clubs spread across five continents (several of them in Spain) and around 28,000 young players in its academies. Pagniello, a former Italian-Australian professional footballer and FIFA agent, is the founder along with Justin Davis, also Australian, a financial strategy expert and currently president of RCG. Their intention is to reach 100,000 licenses in their academies around the world by 2028.
Rami said it well at the official presentation: “Monaco is elegant, classy and a little bit crazy”. And everything is done in a big way.
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