La Liga clubs increasing footprint in Africa as they look to unearth the next big star

They are not projects that draw the spotlight but some La Liga clubs are working behind the scenes to increase their international footprint in their mission to unearth the next football superstar from Africa. 

Over the past months, La Liga sides Celta Vigo, RCD Espanyol and Real Betis have opened academies in Southern Africa where they work with local authorities to unearth and nurture talent. 

Celta Vigo have development a footprint in Sebokeng, RCD Espanyol have an academy in Johannesburg while Real Betis have crossed the border to Zimbabwe, a country that has produced top class talent over the years. 

La Liga has top African players such as Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla, Morocco), Iñaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao, Ghana), Reinildo (Atlético Madrid, Mozambique), Abde Ezzalzouli (Real Betis, Morocco), Pathé Ciss (Rayo Vallecano, Senegal) and Hamari Traoré (Real Sociedad, Mali). 

In the past, African legends such as Samuel Eto'o, Yaya Toure, Seydou Keita, Mustapha Hadji, Didier Zokora, Finidi George, Lauren, Frederic Kanoute, Geremi and Mahamadou Diarra thrilled La Liga. 

“If you look at African stars we have in La Liga their performances are amazing and you ask yourself how much talent is out there?” La Liga MD for Africa Trésor Penku said. 

“With all these infrastructure challenges we still have the amount of talent coming through from the continent and that is why you have clubs such as Real Betis in Zimbabwe and Espanyol and Celta Vigo in South Africa. 

“They are coming to detect and harness the talent and create pathways and opportunity. The idea is to find the next star from the African continent. Whatever we do we communicate with the La Liga clubs and we make them understand there is talent on the continent. 

“Hopefully these activities help to increase the number of African players in La Liga and that will make us happy. It starts with the creation of opportunities through talent identification and then exchange programmes and scholarships.” 

Besides the clubs investing on the continent, La Liga has delegates across the continent to work with local authorities. 

“For La Liga, Africa is important and we have delegates in many countries on the continent such as Angola, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast and their mission is to help grow the brand. 

“They help local people to understand the brand better and for us to understand our fans so we could grow with them. Our objective is to know how we can engage better regarding the products and how we can help broadcasters. 

“We have long-term projects because we have unwavering commitment to the continent and we want to play a part at grassroots level and scholarships we have give to young ladies. Last year we gave scholarships to eight young girls: we had two from South Africa, three from Zambia, two from Nigeria and one from Tanzania.  

“This year again we are going to do the same thing because  it is our commitment. We are active in South Africa. Last year we had about 40 activations in the country and we work in close collaboration with local partners and Safa to get the young girls to be awarded scholarships for next season where they are going to be exposed to different cultures.”