Juan Mata begins a new career as a consultant at Populous

Juan Mata, a former great football player from Spain, begins a new professional adventure outside the football field. He was appointed special advisor to the international architecture studio Populous, which specializes in the design of sports and recreational facilities. Mata will bring his extensive football experience to help design modern training centers and high-performance environments dedicated to football. The aim of the cooperation is to use the perspective and experience gained by Mata on the pitch to develop structures that truly meet the needs of players, technical staffs and clubs. Symbolic of this partnership is the fact that Mata has enjoyed success in Populous-designed stadiums, including the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, where he won the 2010 World Cup, and Wembley, where he won the Champions League with Chelsea and the Europa League with Manchester United.  In his new role, Mata will participate in project reviews, strategic consultations with project teams, client workshops and dialogues with professionals in Populous's international offices. His role will be to strengthen the studio's approach to designing training centers that focus on athlete performance, recovery, well-being, learning and development. “The framework of excellence goes far beyond the buildings themselves,” emphasizes Mata, noting that the best environments foster performance, relationships and personal development. For Populous, Mata's experience will be crucial in building the next generation of football infrastructure.