Nota de Prensa
VIE 15.04.2016
This Friday saw the LaLiga headquarters host a ceremony to mark the inaugural partnership agreement between LaLiga and Danone. The agreement is part of a common strategy based on the promotion of sport and healthy lifestyle habits amongst the youngest members of our community.
The event featured contributions from Liga BBVA ambassador, Fernando Morientes; LaLiga's corporate director general, Javier Gomez; and Carlos Bosch, head of media at Danone and coordinator of the Danone Nations Cup.
Javier Gomez underlined the important role that this agreement will play in promoting a healthy lifestyle through football: "For LaLiga, the agreement with Danone represents a perfect opportunity for us to further build on our initiatives which promote sporting values amongst young people." For his part, Carlos Bosch sought to highlight the benefits that the partnership will bring about: "The agreement with LaLiga is a great way of passing on these values to young people, as well as promoting healthy lifestyle habits."
The opening ceremony of The Danone Nations Cup 2016
In addition to marking the unveiling of the partnership agreement, the opening ceremony of the Danone Nations Cup 2016 was also celebrated at the event. The annual tournament, which is now into its fifth year, is the world's leading competition for boys and girls aged under 12. The tournament, which is hosted by a different country each year, sees 40,000 boys and girls from Spain take part. One of the competition's main aims is to use football as an educational tool to promote healthy lifestyle habits and values associated to sport. Each year, over 2.5 million children from more than 30 countries across the five continents participate in the Danone Nations Cup. In total, over 11,000 clubs and 34,000 schools take part in the competition throughout the world.
Speaking at the ceremony, the coordinator of the Danone Nations Cup explained what the tournament seeks to achieve. "The objective is to disseminate values such as teamwork, respect, effort and fair play amongst the children. This tournament sits perfectly alongside our other football-related projects, such as the Danone football schools, which seeks to foster social inclusion."
For his part, Fernando Morientes echoed the positivity surrounding the initiative, highlighting in particular the impact that this Under-12s tournament has on the children's development. "It's all about being aware of the values that football instils in you from the very youngest age. These values aren't just useful in developing their game, but they're also helpful in their daily lives. Seeing the excitement on these children's faces reminds me of how I felt as a youngster."
With the qualifying stages - which were held in Catalonia and Andalusia - having reached their conclusion, the regional rounds get underway on 17 April in Gernika (Biscay). A total of five regional finals are set be played across April and May in Gernika, Las Palmas, Seville, Madrid and Barcelona. The teams which progress from these rounds will take their places in the National Final, which will be hosted at the RCDE Stadium on 20, 21, 22 May. The winning finalists will go on and represent Spain at the World Final. Last time round, U.E. Cornella triumphed and flew the flag for Spain at the finals in Morocco. This year, the national champions will travel to France in October to compete for the world title.
© LALIGA - 2016