LaLiga continues to expand presence in Africa

LaLiga president Javier Tebas conducted a press conference in Johannesburg on Monday 1 August, alongside Antonio Barradas, the head of LaLiga in South Africa. Tebas will have meetings with representatives from the country's biggest clubs and the government during his stay in a bid to continue to develop links between LaLiga and South Africa.

"We have a very good relationship with the African continent, especially with South Africa, but we have to keep working hard to improve it. We've come here to hold meetings with clubs and institutions with the goal of making that relationship even stronger," stated Javier Tebas in a press conference. He also discussed the various projects that are on the agenda at the Johannesburg office, the first LaLiga headquarters opened on the African continent. "We want to bring our football closer to our South African fans. That's why we've embarked on different missions and we'll keep organising events in South Africa and in other African countries as well as liaising with clubs and local leagues," declared the LaLiga president.

The LaLiga executives explained that efforts are also being made to promote local talent. "We believe social responsibility is very important and we can use sport to help local communities, to try to eradicate poverty and to boost the game at grassroots level, so that we can offer youngsters more opportunities and a bright future," stated Barradas. 

Tebas expressed his delight at LaLiga's support for the 20th anniversary edition of the ‘Kwamahlobo Games’, a project which the organisation's South African office is heavily involved in. He also spoke about the Future Players initiative, part of the Future Champions Programme, which has involved around 10,000 children and which will see three winners, who have already been identified, travel to Spain to attend different workshops at top-division clubs. LaLiga will also donate sports equipment to the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation that will be distributed among their training projects and schools. Furthermore, the LaLiga Santander clubs will participate directly in a training programme for schools.

As part of LaLiga's ongoing internationalisation process, the competition now boasts two offices on the African continent, with Johannesburg starting the trend six months ago and Abuja, Nigeria following in its footsteps in July. They join the rest of LaLiga's international headquarters dotted around the globe in China (Beijing), the United States (New York) and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai).