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TUE 16 NOV 2021 | GLOBAL GROWTH
How LaLiga’s events brought the thrill of ElClásico to all corners of the world
How LaLiga’s events brought the thrill of ElClásico to all corners of the world
  • LaLiga planned 133 ElClásico events in 42 countries, from watch parties to exhibition matches to quizzes.

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid’s first clash of the 2021/22 LaLiga Santander season was watched by millions around the world, when the historic rivals locked horns at the Camp Nou on 24th October in Matchday 10. There was a vibrant and colourful atmosphere inside Barça’s stadium for the match, while LaLiga organised more than 130 events in over 40 countries to bring that passion to all continents.

In addition to the more than 86,000 spectators who watched the match at Camp Nou, numerous football fans attended official LaLiga events around the world that weekend, making it an unforgettable day for each of the participants and bringing extra value to the sponsors and partners who collaborated with LaLiga in hosting these activations.

The festive atmosphere for ElClásico spread across cultures and across time zones, as LaLiga planned 37 events throughout Asia and Australia, 36 in Africa, 32 in Europe, 14 in MENA, seven in North America and seven in Latin America. This added up to 133 events in 42 countries, including 24 public viewing or watch parties spread across China, Turkey, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Tanzania, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Denmark, Hungary, UK, UAE and Mexico.

Several of these watch parties featured the presence of former LaLiga Santander players. In Ghana, for example, Derek Boateng and Mutiu Adepoju attended at the screening of the game in Accra, with fans, journalists and diplomats joining them.

Speaking about this event, LaLiga’s Global Network Delegate for Ghana, Desmond Chiji, said: “The interest we received exceeded our expectations. We would like to thank football fans, participants, media organisations and members of the media for this achievement. As LaLiga, we will continue to strengthen our bond with football fans in the coming period.”

There were several other types of in-person events and activations too, from exhibition matches for local fan groups in countries such as Gabon, Hungary or Vietnam to ElClásico quizzes in bars in the UK or Canada.

With coronavirus restrictions in certain territories making in-person meet-ups more complicated, there were also many online collaborations. These ranged from online quizzes to chats with former players to live commentary to social media giveaways, with a range of LaLiga, PUMA, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid merchandising offered as prizes.

One of the successful online activations saw LaLiga Ambassador Fernando Morientes take on one of Norway’s top influencers, Randulle, in a game of EA Sports’ FIFA. This was organised through a collaboration with LaLiga’s Norwegian broadcast partner TV 2 Sporten, just as LaLiga worked with rights holders around the world to ensure their programming around ElClásico was as impactful as possible.

In the case of ESPN, the new rights holder for LaLiga Santander in the USA, LaLiga supported the network as they sent more than 40 people to Barcelona to cover their first ElClásico live.

Throughout all these events, LaLiga pushed the new #ElClásico brand identity that has been created for this fixture, doing so through merchandising and presentations of the new logo. There were even in-person branding presentations held in China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa.

All of this combined to make the first ElClásico of 2021/22 a day to remember. Football fans in every continent were able to experience this match in a special way, understanding that this is a fixture like no other.

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