EA SPORTS and LALIGA launch ‘Next Gen Draft’, a programme to identify and develop talent from around the world

LALIGA and EA SPORTS launch ‘Next Gen Draft’, a project within the framework of the EA SPORTS FC FUTURES social impact programme, designed to discover and develop young football talent around the world while fostering community engagement through the values of football. Next Gen Draft will begin with more than 1,000 children in five countries across three continents and will conclude with 40 selected children, who will travel to Spain for a training camp with LALIGA and its clubs.

Jorge de la Vega, LALIGA’s Executive Director, stated: “We're very excited about this project. It's a programme that allows us to reach thousands of children, train them and continue helping them to enjoy football. EA SPORTS FC FUTURES is particularly important to us, because it helps us build the football we want for tomorrow, today”. “We’ve had the privilege of working on some fantastic community projects with LALIGA and FC FUTURES over the past few years, from pitch refurbishments to scholarship programmes: all with the goal of creating a positive impact and growing the sport.” said James Salmon, Senior Director, Franchise Activation, EA SPORTS FC. “Looking forward, it’s incredibly exciting to now be involved in talent discovery within community football and contributing to the development of the next generation of football stars."

Over the next few months, EA SPORTS FC FUTURES will visit Rustenberg (South Africa, March 1-2); New York (USA, March 8-9); Dubai (UAE, March 27-28), Guatemala City (Guatemala, April 5-6) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam, April 11-13). At each stop, approximately 300 children will compete to advance through the various project phases and become one of only eight finalists (four boys and four girls) from each location who will travel to Spain at the beginning of June. The selection process will include the following stages:

1) Rush Tournament: Some 200 boys and girls kick off the initial phase of the competition by playing football in a tournament using the innovative 5v5 Rush mode, with two 7-minute halves. Members of the winning teams and the 20 best players chosen by LALIGA experts and coaches will advance to the next phase.

2) FC FUTURES ACADEMY Session: The youngsters will have to undergo training with UEFA PRO-licensed LALIGA coaches under the FC FUTURES Academy methodology. Each practice was carefully designed using in-game footage from FC

25 in combination with expert coaching insights, effectively merging physical and digital football. This innovative approach creates an engaging and enhanced training experience for young players. The 32 best (16 boys and 16 girls) will advance to the next phase.

3) LALIGA Final Match: In this phase, the youngsters will play a full football match against a local team, which, in some cases, will be a LALIGA Academy squad from that region. After this match, the four best boys and four best girls will be selected to experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with LALIGA in Spain. This final selection won't just be based on sporting grounds, but also on psycho-emotional criteria, where values such as commitment, solidarity, and effort will play an important role.

4) LALIGA Experience in Spain: This final phase of the programme will take place in Spain. The selected players will participate in training sessions developed under the LALIGA Academy methodology, will play matches against youth teams from LALIGA clubs, and will receive training and guidance from experts from the football industry.

 

FC FUTURES is EA SPORTS' long-term initiative to invest in community-level football on a global scale. As well as investing in 15+ partner programmes, donating playing equipment in 10+ countries, they launched FC FUTURES Academy, a free-to-access, online library of training drills for coaches to use in their everyday training.

FC FUTURES also invests in refurbishing pitches in disadvantaged areas to drive participation in football, creating safe spaces for local young people to access the game. Last year, five projects developed by EA SPORTS and LALIGA were presented in five cities: Malaga and Madrid (Spain), Cape Town (South Africa), Cheng San-Seletar (Singapore) and Guadalajara (Mexico). Community fields were remodeled in these spaces, promoting the practice of soccer in the area among young people and revitalizing the area.