It’s the third trip that coaches from Venezia have made to Brisbane since the international partnership was established in 2017.

“Basically there is an exchange of coaching methodologies, ideas and philosophies about youth development within the academies,” Luca Balestrazzi, Director of Club Operations and one of the Brisbane City FC coaches, said.

“And there is an exchange of coaching, which at this stage involve the guys coming from Italy, but in the future will involve coaches from Brisbane City visiting Venezia.

“I will likely go because I’m a coach myself, so I would like to go up to Italy during December of this year to begin this exchange.”

The head coach of Brisbane City FC is Nick Green.

Visiting coaches from Venezia were Nicola Marangon, Evans Soligo, Daniele Modonese, Alessio Chiarin and Jacopo Zennaro.

The entire Brisbane City academy experienced the Italian coaching, from Under-8s all the way up to Under-20s, with both girls and boys participating.

The teams at Brisbane were put through their paces during the week, as they completed drills and exercises in the Italian side’s methodology.

“They were happy,” Balestrazzi said about his National Premier League players.

“It was a good experience for them to be exposed to that system.”

Balestrazzi said that one Brisbane City player from the Under-16 team was selected to try out for Venezia FC’s primavera squad at the end of July.

“He will travel up at the end of July and have a three or four week trial period with them during their preseason, and if they select him, he’s in,” Balestrazzi said.

Brisbane City FC was founded in 1952 by Italian migrants, and the clubhouse and stadium were built by Italians.

The team was one of the founders of the National Soccer League (NSL) and competed in the competition for nine seasons, but were relegated in 1986 back to the State League competition.

Now, the team has its sights set on making a bid for the A-League, as it continues to play in the National Premier League of Queensland.

The club also hopes to increase collaboration with Venezia FC, who currently compete in Serie C in Italy.

“If and when we get into the A-League, potentially there could be players from Venezia coming down to Australia to have an experience down here,” Balestrazzi said.

“It’s a coaching and methodology exchange as well as potentially a player exchange going both ways – that’s the plan.”