Wale Emosu takes a look at the activities and impacts of the organisers of the Spanish football league, LaLiga, since their inroad into the Nigerian football scene since 2016.
It’s a new lease of life for football and its stakeholders in Nigeria with the coming of Liga Nacional De Futbol Professional, otherwise known as LaLiga, into the country. LaLiga is the sports association comprising all clubs in the first and second divisions of the Spanish football competition.
In 2016, the LaLiga office in Abuja took off with the aim of supporting football development in the country, by partnering the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and to promote the Spanish football as the model to develop African football talent.
At the takeoff of the LaLiga office in Nigeria three years ago, Javier Tebas, LaLiga’s President had said: “Our intention is to be closer to the fans in Nigeria, which for us is a very important territory, and we want to bring the Nigerian fans the best league in the world, boasting many of the greatest sporting spectacles.”
Since it was founded in 1984, the high LaLiga standard has proven to be a model deployable for the development of football in any part of the world. For one, going by the number of individual awards and international competitions won at the club level, the LaLiga ranks as the best football league in the world. For example, Luka Modric, who features for LaLiga Santander side Real Madrid is currently the world’s best player, in addition to being the best player of the last FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia. Before Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, as Real Madrid player and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi had between them, ruled the world for a decade.
A look at the 2018 FIFA World Cup shows that LaLiga contributed 81 players (unequalled by any other league in the world) to the total 736 players that attended the last mundial with all the 20 clubs in the elite LaLiga Santander represented by a total of 80 players. Second tier LaLiga 1|2|3 club Numancia contributed Morocco goalkeeper, Munir, to make up the legion of LaLiga representatives in Russia. Only 10 countries out of the total 32 did not have any LaLiga player in their fold at the last World Cup.
These rich credentials thus only forebode that football in Nigeria can only get better with the inroad being made by LaLiga.
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One of the major projects by LaLiga in Nigeria to underline its commitment to the development of grass-roots football is the organisation of an annual coaching clinic for youth coaches on how to develop young talents. The programme, the third edition of which was held in January, is in partnership with the NPFL. If there is any problem confronting Nigerian football, LaLiga officials believe that it is not a lack of potential. The absence of a systemic grassroots development programme, to them, is a culprit. In essence, poor state of infrastructure, lack of technical know-how from coaches and medical staff and a general lack of football knowledge are demons they believe must be killed for budding Nigerian football youngsters to attain full potentialities.
Towards this end, LaLiga coaching instructors dispense the ‘LaLiga Methodology’ to the Nigerian youth coaches, who are expected to impart the concepts and knowledge to their youth teams for their use as they grow into professionals. The LaLiga coaching clinic lays emphasis on development-based trainings (rather than winning mentality) and access to world-class training facilities.
One of the participants in the LaLiga coaching clinic, Bunmi Haruna, an assistant coach of the Nigerian U-17 team, while reviewing the 2018 edition, said, “Last year’s edition of the coaching clinic was very impactful. We were exposed to the Spanish methodology for training players. The Spanish model is indeed unique and very technical, and I am grateful to the NPFL and to LaLiga for giving me the opportunity once again to better my skills as a coach.”
To ensure that this partnership yields the desired practical result, the NPFL and LaLiga organise, on an annual basis, the NPFL-LaLiga U-15 Promises tournament whereby the youth teams of the NPFL are engaged in a tournament, guided by the LaLiga standards for the benefit of the youngsters as they unfurl into professional footballers. Currently, plans are afoot for this year’s edition that will come up in April. The Managing Director, LaLiga Nigeria, Javier del Rio, said of the clinic and the tournament: “We have been developing LaLiga for a number of years now and Nigeria has huge potential in football, but lacks grass-roots development. We truly believe that this clinic and the U-15 tournament…will really help with the development of football in Nigeria. We are bringing top international coaches from Spain to help achieve this.”
LaLiga’s developmental programme in Nigeria has also been extended to women’s football, with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by LaLiga and the Nigerian Women’s Football League (NWFL) in 2018. The agreement reached by the duo would see to the promotion of gender equality in sports through integration of women in football while encouraging access to sports management, education and the development of CSR activities. While the partnership involves the exchange of football knowledge and experience between LaLiga and the NWFL, the former will also facilitate the development of television commercials for women football in Nigeria.
To further prove its commitment to the growth and development of football, nay sports in Nigeria, LaLiga, in October 2018, took a step to institutionalise what it believes are the ideals of football knowledge that can make sports grow in proportion to the challenges of the 21st century, by entering into partnership with the Lagos Business School to organise and offer sports management courses in the country. The partnership includes developing, by both bodies, different sports business programmes that will cover areas like sports management, marketing, financing, leadership, technology and innovation. The courses will focus on
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It must be stated at this point that LaLiga’s ‘gospel’ of spreading its time-tested football knowledge and advancement is not limited to Nigeria or South Africa, where it has another office on the continent; the outlook is global. This global vision is steeped in the activities of FUNDACIÓN LaLiga, which was established in 1993 by the LaLiga General Assembly. The mission of the foundation is “transforming society through the various values of football”, while its vision is that “the world of football to be considered and recognised as an agent seriously committed to the common benefit of society.”
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the LaLiga is carried out through this foundation and the CSR focuses on three major areas: institutional activities, cultural and training activities and social activities. Under the social activities arm of the CSR, LaLiga, through the development of its international headquarters, decided to internationalise its brand, as well as its agents who are present in 43 countries, within the framework of the LaLiga Global Network programme.
Consequently, for the LaLiga Foundation to function in different geographical areas, it is entrenched in the same process of internationalisation of its corporate social responsibility, with its activities centering on the most vulnerable collectives of the society. Its priority areas include childhood, education, sports and values social inclusion and gender.
The goal of these projects is to positively impact on the people and the environment over time.
The vision gave rise to such projects as the Vincente Ferrer Foundation in India, where the Anantapur Football League (AFL), a youth rural football league for boys and girls, has been existing since the 2014-15 season. The project also encourages an exchange between coaches and players from both countries for the purpose of related training sessions, methodologies and experiences.
There is also a collaboration between LaLiga and other foundations, non government organisations in countries like Colombia, Cameroon, Jordan, Morocco and El Salvador. These partnerships, the initiatives of the LaLiga, are meant to bring new lease of life to their host communities.