More than 215 young Japanese talents shine in LALIGA NAGANO CUP 2024

More than 215 young talents from 12 Japanese U-12 teams have displayed their football skills in LALIGA NAGANO CUP 2024, a tournament organised from August 30th to 1st by LALIGA together with MANATEC HOLDINGS and the city of Nagano. In addition to the tournament, the children participated in clinics on the 30th, 31st and 1st, for which LALIGA sent two of its coaches to Japan. LALIGA ambassador Luis García, former FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid player, also travelled to Japan. He was enthusiastic about the young football talent that exists in Japan and encouraged the players during the tournament, as well as presenting the trophies to the best player of the tournament and the winning team, and taking photographs with the players, who were able to enjoy the visit of the LALIGA legend.

Luis García, together with Guillermo Pérez, delegate of LALIGA, and Horie Mitsusada, president of Manatec Holdings, attended the local press on 1 August before the official reception of the tournament.Also present at the reception was Yoshito Okubo, former LALIGA and RCD Mallorca player, who was invited by the tournament organisers.

Okubo and García also attended the final phase of the tournament, which took place on 2 August at the Nagano U Stadium, the stadium where the J3 Parceiro Nagano club plays its home matches. The winner of the LALIGA Nagano Cup 2024 was finally Nagano FC Gaaf. Among the 12 participating clubs, there were eight local Nagano clubs and four guest clubs.

LALIGA has been committed for years to promoting young talent, which is one of the pillars of its sustainable growth strategy since the creation of the Sports Projects department in 2015. Since that year, there have been more than 820 sports projects in more than 55 countries, in which more than 25,000 local coaches and more than 240,000 young players from all over the world have been trained. In this case, two of the LALIGA coaches will travel from Spain to give the clinics to the players under the LALIGA Methodology, which combines some of the best elements of its youth academies and focuses on the integral development of the player.

"At LALIGA we are committed to sustainable growth at grassroots level. Therefore, we have promoted a large number of global grassroots football projects in recent years where we can add value at international level in a field in which we have many years of experience and thus enhance the excellent work done by countries like Japan in this area. Japan has been committed to strengthening from the grassroots level and has been reaping the rewards in its national teams and professional football for years. LALIGA NAGANO CUP 2024 involves promoting the development of the grassroots football structure at local and regional level, and it is also a celebration of sport and values such as friendship and sportsmanship in a playful environment," says Guillermo Pérez, LALIGA's delegate in Japan.

The sporting and Olympic tradition, embodied by the Mayor of Nagano, Mr. Kenji Ogiwara, two-time Olympic champion and four-time world ski champion, as well as the privileged geographical location and climate of the city of Nagano guarantee not only a successful tournament, but also a strong foothold in the grassroots football structure of the region.