Ricardo Villar discusses growth of the FC Series, future plans and more

The FC Series got off to a thrilling start this week with Scottish giants Celtic defeating the Premier League champions Manchester City 4-3 at the Kenan Memorial Stadium in North Carolina. Celtic then beat Chelsea 4-1 at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana. Whilst AC Milan defeated City 3-2 at a packed Yankee Stadium in New York.

The Series across the United States this summer will also include matches involving Barcelona and Club America.

The preseason competition started back in 2015 and just included teams from Brazil and Germany. Koln won the first Florida Cup in which Bayer Leverkusen, Corinthians and Fluminense competed.

FC Series continues to grow by the year

The FC Series is now not just based in Florida and the tournament's CEO Ricardo Villar is very proud of its growth. Speaking exclusively to FanSided, Villar said, "We try to bring the best fan experience we can with relevant matches in key markets as we grow. We are now able to host the biggest European clubs which is special for the fans."

Despite the Series now hosting huge clubs, Villar finds organizing the matches easier than he did when starting up the competition. "With the bigger the club, it becomes less challenging. It helps to have discussions with people who have done it before.

"Once you understand what they are looking for, the main topics are covered and then everything else is just about being ready with the team that understands the event. Things can change and you have got to be ready to adjust and we have done that and improved ourselves over the years."

New York City FC and Charlotte FC have played in previous Florida Cups. However, there are not any MLS teams in this year's event. Villar explained why saying, "Obviously they have their Leagues Cup schedule. MLS and Liga MX teams will be playing in that. This year we just have Club America (in the FC Series) as they have a bye in the Leagues Cup being the champions of Mexico. So they do not start earlier in that competition. This allows us them to play Chelsea in Atlanta."

Often teams who compete in the FC Series go on to have successful campaigns in their regular seasons. This is despite them often traveling huge distances to play in the event. Villar comments on this saying, "We cannot credit this to us but for example Ajax when they came they then got to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Palmeiras when they came won and then reached the semi-finals of the Club World Cup.

"We try to prioritise the technical side but I know the commercial aspirations are big. However, it is important to have that balance and understand what the clubs are looking for. We look to get the best training facilities possible and balance as much as they can so the experience is not just a commercial one but a good one for the team."

There has been talk of Premier League or La Liga games being played in the United States in the future. When asked if this is needed with the top European clubs coming over to America for events such as the FC Series already, Villar said, "That comes a little bit out of my sphere. We are focused only on the pre-season friendlies. There is a demand for it in the market but discussing how that would be played and the effect of that is out of my league at the moment."

Villar was a player who was in MLS for FC Dallas and played for teams in Europe including Austria Salzburg (now Red Bull Salzburg) and Kaiserslautern. His playing experiences have helped shape how the FC Series is now played out. "There is one thing that motivated me to do this. Most times for pre-season we just went to the mountains in Austria for ten days or to the south of Spain. We stayed in isolated places and never got to do much after training.

"When I came to MLS at the end of my career with FC Dallas our pre-seasons had much more than just training. I thought that balance was nice. Mentally it was better to be in a place with a lot more going on."

The FC Series has grown so much since its inception in 2015 but Villar is not getting ahead of himself in regards to the future of the competition. "It's about staying humble and playing to your strengths. We are a pre-season platform and do not intend to be anything different to that. If we stay grounded and keep on improving then the fan experience will continue to build."