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InterSala Zaragoza and Zaragoza Futsal have joined forces. The two clubs officially announced the merger this morning at a press conference attended by Javier de Diego, Director General of Sport for the Government of Aragon; Cristina García, Councilor for Sports for the Zaragoza City Council; José Vicente Méndez, President of the Territorial Futsal Committee of the Aragonese Football Federation; Concha Cameo, President of InterSala Promises Zaragoza; and José Ramón Moreno, President of Zaragoza Futsal.
The presidents of the two clubs have described the merger as "very exciting," because, according to José Ramón Moreno, "Zaragoza is a city of women's futsal." The project will begin in the 2022-23 season under the name Intersala10 Zaragoza, with Marcelo Almeida and Carlos Perena in charge of the sporting side. The union of the two teams stems from a clear purpose and objective: "The aim of the merger is to work together from the grassroots level and hopefully, one day, reach the First Division. We are convinced that promotion is possible in the medium to long term, and hopefully in the short term. The project is designed to be on par with the best teams in our country, but that is not the short-term goal," acknowledged José Ramón Moreno.
Intersala10 Zaragoza has emerged with the idea of being a completely Aragonese project, as Concha Cameo has stated. “The idea is to have an Aragonese project, but if that's not possible due to circumstances, we would refine it and work on it. We believe we have the players to have a strong team in the Second Division, even within our own youth academies.”.
The merger of the two clubs will not only take place in the Second Division National team, but also at the youth level, where the teams will be combined: “We are uniting the two clubs into a single club. All the youth teams, both male and female, especially the female teams, will be part of that club. We are considering what to do with the male teams, whether to merge them with AD Sala 10 or keep them in InterSala,” José Ramon acknowledged.
The project was launched with institutional support, as Cristina García, Councilor for Sports of the Zaragoza City Council, stated that it was “one of the biggest news stories of the year,” adding that the partnership is “a very important boost, not only for the futsal community, but also for the city.” The Councilor also expressed the Zaragoza City Council's commitment: “We are making all our resources available to you so that the project can move forward under the best possible conditions.”.
On behalf of the Government of Aragon, Javier de Diego, Director General of Sport for the Government of Aragon, expressed his support, stating that “success is guaranteed.” He further stated the Government's backing, arguing that “you are doing very well in the youth categories, and that has to translate into success for the first team.”.
As for the Aragonese Football Federation, its president of the Territorial Futsal Committee, José Vicente Méndez, has given his support to the project since "anything that promotes futsal is good" and has called for a commitment to the development of grassroots categories.
