Who is Jaime Fernández Valencia?

From Spain to Al Ittihad SC

Profile

Technical Leadership at Al Ittihad SC

Jaime Fernández Valencia most recently served as Technical Director at Al Ittihad SC, Libya’s biggest club and one of Africa’s most powerful clubs. Working alongside Sporting Director Jorge López, he supported the club’s sporting strategy, focusing on recruitment, squad planning and the development of its scouting structure.

The role came with enormous pressure, with Al Ittihad’s huge fanbase and social influence extending far beyond football. Expectations were clear: win every competition and reach the CAF Champions League.

At Al Ittihad, Fernández Valencia oversaw recruitment across Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, while also covering opportunities in the Middle East. He helped reshape the squad during the winter window, with Ahmed Benali, the Libyan international with extensive Serie A experience, among the standout arrivals. Beyond recruitment, he worked closely with players and coaching staff to introduce more European-style professional standards around the first team.

Analysis and Scouting at CF Intercity

Before moving to Libya, Fernández Valencia spent two seasons at CF Intercity as a first-team analyst and scout in Spain’s Primera Federación, a competitive league featuring clubs such as Málaga CF and the reserve teams of Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. His role combined opposition analysis with recruitment, producing player reports, data-led shortlists and the club’s first scouting database.

From Coaching to Sporting Management

Earlier in his career, Fernández Valencia coached at DV7 Academy, the project founded by David Villa, while completing his Master’s at LaLiga Business School. Having since worked across Spanish and African and Middle Eastern football, he is looking to continue developing within recruitment and sporting management, with a particular interest in Africa and the Middle East and in identifying emerging talent across the continent.

Key Insights

• Fernández Valencia combines analysis, scouting, recruitment and squad planning experience across Spanish, African and Middle Eastern football.
• His recruitment approach prioritises finding players who fit the team and playing style rather than focusing only on individual quality.
• He is particularly interested in continuing his work across Africa and the Middle East and identifying emerging talent across the continent.

Our Exclusive Interview with Jaime Fernández Valencia

How did your football journey begin?

First, I started learning by myself how to analyse matches and started writing articles in known football journals. I realised I enjoyed it and decided to do my coaching licenses while I studied Business Administration in university.

I started coaching in my local football team and the same year I started, there were changes and I ended up as assistant coach of the Men’s B team. This would shape me a lot as I would start my football journey by coaching players older than me for several years.

After this, I went to coach in DV7 Academy, which is a very ambitious project from David Villa. I went there to help set it up and it is rising to be one of the best football academies in Madrid. I worked in DV7 while I was doing my Masters in LaLiga Business School.

Thanks to LaLiga, I managed to get an opportunity at CF Intercity as first team analyst, in Spain’s Primera RFEF (3rd division). This league has a lot of quality and is very professional, seeing how many of LaLiga’s B teams play here. Playing against all the top players we see today was a very enriching experience (Nico Paz, Gonzalo García, Víctor Muñoz, etc). This is where I would coincide with my future boss, Jorge López, who was sporting director in the club and we built a good relationship.

After this experience, Jorge got the offer to go to Libya’s biggest club and he called me to go with him. Here I would do the role of Technical Director where I would help Jorge in recruitment decisions and squad planning. Now we have left the club, but it has been a great experience to work in one of Africa’s biggest clubs and serving a huge fanbase.

Your most recent role was Technical Director at Al Ittihad SC. Could you outline your responsibilities and describe your experience working for one of Africa’s biggest clubs, on and off the field?

My role was to control the scouting department and know all the best players in the top African leagues like Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and South Africa mainly. Our main focus of players was in Africa and the Middle East due to the adaptation needed to live in Libya. Related to this, I assisted Jorge in squad planning during the winter market.

I also needed to help create relations with agents and clubs in Africa and the Middle East since we were new to this market. Luckily, I speak various languages (English, Spanish, French, and Italian) which helped a lot in this process, especially for North Africa where French is important.

Lastly, Jorge and I needed to be present with the first team, discussing and creating relations with the players and staff in order to be a united team. One of our objectives was also to bring the European ways of working into Libya such as bringing in a nutritionist, or implementing the players to eat at the club before and after training. We had more ideas but we were unable to do so due to the short timespan we were there.

Regarding matters off the field, Al Ittihad has a big social impact in the country, it is not just a normal club. The effects it has and its great following means we had to be cautious in our daily actions and behaviours because we were representing the club every day.

Regarding matters off the field, Al Ittihad has a big social impact in the country, it is not just a normal club.

How would you describe the atmosphere and playing style of the Libyan Premier League, and what are the pressures of working at a club of Al Ittihad’s stature?

Working for one of Africa’s biggest clubs was incredible. The pressure and responsibility you feel is tremendous because the club has such a huge social impact and one of the best fanbases I have ever seen. It is almost like a political institution. Another attractive factor is that the expectations are very high and the objective is to win every competition and enter the CAF Champions League.

The Libyan league is particular because since the country is divided in two right now due to the recent conflict, there is a league in each side and then they do the final playoff in another country to determine the champion of Libya. Also, since there have been various problems with fans in stadiums recently, they forbid the entry of fans during the whole season.

This is a shame as our club fills 50,000 fans every home game and the atmosphere is better than some Champions League teams. However, there were many times when the fans and ultras came in numbers to training to show their support, and they created a spectacle of chanting and flares.

The fans truly impressed and won the hearts of both myself and Jorge.

The fans truly impressed and won the hearts of both myself and Jorge.

In terms of playing style, it is quite disorganised but there is individual talent, but those talented players don’t leave Libya because they are already earning good money.

How did you manage recruitment and squad planning at Al Ittihad, and what did you look for when identifying potential signings?

Due to the financial power, the prestige of the club and our high expectations, we were looking at the elite players of Africa. Therefore, Jorge and I controlled very well the players from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, South Africa, and Tanzania. Also, we were interested in the standout academy players from sub-saharan Africa, and I did a trip to Ghana to find talented players.

When we got to the club, there was a playing style and players that we think did not fit the standards of a big club like Al Ittihad. We wanted to be a more dominating team and have more control of the games in order to put forward the higher quality level of our players. Sadly, we had to change managers in order to find this playing style.

This means that we only had the winter market to revolutionise the starting 11 and we did so. We brought in 2 of the best players in the Moroccan league, the best Libyan right back, one of the best centre backs in the Algerian league, and a striker with a good goalscoring record from the UAE league. Our objective was to find quality players for our playing style, not just individual quality.

However, the transfer we are most proud about was Ahmed Benali, who is a Libyan player that had played all his life in Italian Serie A and Serie B. He always had doubts about coming to Libya but when he saw that Jorge and I were in the club, he trusted us. He helped bring in the European standards we were searching to implement.

During your time as a first-team analyst and scout at CF Intercity, how did you approach player recruitment and identify players who matched the club’s needs?

My time at CF Intercity was very interesting because Primera RFEF is quite a challenging league and has a similar level to Segunda. This is proven by how the transfers from Primera RFEF to Segunda or LaLiga keep increasing every year.

In my main role as analyst I did opposition analysis, which means I developed a very deep understanding of every player in our league. This means that I was doing both things at the same time, analysis and scouting. Through this and with my data analysis reports, I helped the sporting director in creating lists of players by position. Moreover, I created the first scouting database for the club.

You began your career in analysis before moving into scouting and technical director roles. What motivated that transition, and how has your analytical background shaped your approach to recruitment?

Scouting and being in a recruitment department was always my passion, but I used the role of analyst to enter the football industry. I believe my analysis role helped me a lot to further my scouting skills because it gives another way of thinking when scouting a player. When doing match analysis, you think more of the playing style and the team in general.

Therefore, when I moved into scouting my mindset was in finding the right player for the team and playing style, not just their individual quality. I believe working in analysis before helps you make a better decision by involving more factors into the decision.

Therefore, when I moved into scouting my mindset was in finding the right player for the team and playing style, not just their individual quality.

In the end, the player has to adapt to the team to make a cohesive unit, 11 talented players with no united playing style don’t always get results. In Spain we have this mentality, and it was best represented in the semifinal of the World Cup: Spain vs France. A cohesive unit with a clear playing style beat a team with more individual quality.

In addition, when doing match analysis you are more interested in the player profiles of each position and how they fit the team. Maybe a right back is very good but is more defensive, when the team needs an offensive right back due to the playing style. These are the types of things you think when being an analyst to find the weak points of the opposition, and it’s a mistake I see often, signing players because of their quality but not taking in mind how they fit the playing style.

Also, being in analysis helped me in video editing and video elaboration which is important to create good player presentations.

What are your ambitions for the next seasons?

For the next seasons, we would like to stay involved in Middle East and African football. However, football is very unpredictable so you never know. Also, I would like to do more trips to Africa to find more young talented players.

FAQ

Who is Jaime Fernández Valencia?

Jaime Fernández Valencia is a football recruitment and sporting management professional who most recently served as Technical Director at Al Ittihad SC in Libya.

What did Jaime Fernández Valencia do at Al Ittihad SC?

He worked on recruitment, squad planning, scouting and relationships with players, staff, agents and clubs, with a particular focus on Africa and the Middle East.

What is Jaime Fernández Valencia’s approach to recruitment?

His approach focuses on identifying the right player for the team and playing style, rather than judging players only on their individual quality.