LALIGA and the K LEAGUE extend their partnership until 2026

LALIGA and K LEAGUE have agreed to extend their collaboration agreement until the end of 2026 as well as to broaden their fields of exchange, which will now cover, in a comprehensive manner, practically all the areas surrounding the development of top level competitions such as the Spanish and South Korean ones, within the framework of an agreement that, from the beginning, has seen a continuous exchange of knowledge and actions between both entities.

In addition to the training of players and coaches, advice on audiovisual production or sessions on economic control and its implementation, the new agreement, which will come into force on 1 January 2024, expands the fields of collaboration to include topics such as eSports, match day preparation, academic training, women's football and the fight against racism and other types of discrimination.

"We are very pleased with the renewal of our MOU with K LEAGUE. Since we started working together at the end of 2020, we have discovered more and more areas of collaboration and possibilities for joint development and we are convinced that both competitions will be able to benefit from this exchange of knowledge and shared experiences to continue growing", Oscar Mayo, LALIGA’s executive director, assured.

Clubs, the main beneficiaries of this collaboration

So far this season alone, LALIGA and K LEAGUE clubs have participated in training camps in Spain, where youth teams from FC Seoul, Jeonbuk Hyundai and Ulsan Hyundai have played against grassroots teams from clubs such as Atlético de Madrid, Leganés, Rayo Vallecano and Getafe.

In addition, executives from all the K LEAGUE clubs visited Spain to learn first-hand about the workings of clubs such as FC Barcelona, Valencia CF, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona, Villarreal CF and Atlético de Madrid, which led to the new agreement placing greater emphasis on issues such as the creation of the internal structure of the clubs and professional development within the clubs.

Before the end of the year, two new collaboration sessions will also be held, one with the visit of several South Korean television executives to learn first-hand about technological innovation in LALIGA broadcasts, and a training session for K LEAGUE coaches by LALIGA and club technicians.

Yeon Sang Cho, General Secretary of K LEAGUE – “We are delighted with the extension of the MOU with LALIGA. In the past three years with LALIGA, K League has made great progress in various fields. Through the reinforced cooperative relationship between the leagues, we look forward to seeing that both leagues will accomplish the key goals and raise our status in world football”.