Global Fútbol

The build up to the new LaLiga season is now a global event. For the second year in a row, the competition arranged an international tour of media events to coincide with the 2019/20 kickoff, creating excitement, deepening relationships and getting closer to football fans around the world.

The events were held between the middle of August and the first week of September, reaching 36 countries from Mexico to Brazil to China to Russia to South Africa to Egypt to Singapore as league representatives revealed their local activities and ongoing global expansion.

The hundreds of reporters who attended were introduced to the 42 clubs competing in this season’s LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank, whose stories were captured in a new presentation shown at each event. The new PUMA ball that is being used in LaLiga this season was also on display, along with the new LaLiga sound identity composed by Lucas Vidal.

Attendees also had the chance to discover the full range of sponsors for this season’s competition, with new additions including LiveScore, BKT and Budweiser, as well as view demonstrations of LaLiga technology such as Replay360°, which is now in use at eight stadiums in LaLiga Santander.

The level of information provided is reflective of the appetite that overseas media now show in Spanish football. Having begun its internationalisation push in 2016, LaLiga now has a presence in 55 countries and receives a TV audience of about 3 billion.

“The foreign interest in our competition has grown exponentially in recent years and these events are a way for us to reach our fans around the world,” explained Óscar Mayo, Head of International Development at LaLiga.

Building media buzz
To help promote the competition further, LaLiga Ambassadors such as Diego Forlán and Luis García appeared at the events to give their views on the 2019/20 season and the continued growth of LaLiga around the world.

The effect is significant media coverage that creates a huge international profile for LaLiga in time for the new season. These types of ‘kickoff’ events were held for the first time in the summer of 2018, when 20 gatherings took place, leading to over 260 news pieces and an audience of over 210 million. That figure looks set to be far exceeded this year, with 423 news articles already published.

In reaching this kind of audience, LaLiga can increase its fanbase as well as strengthen the ability for its global delegates, who number 46 around the world, to build new relationships and partnerships. By having a physical presence in so many countries across multiple continents and by meeting with international journalists face to face, more and more football lovers can now be reached and can learn about LaLiga and its clubs.

“We achieve two objectives with these events, as we spread information to our followers in other countries and, at the same time, we attract new football fans who didn’t know much about us yet,” Mayo concluded.