Global Fútbol

LaLiga Academy, the long-term academic and sporting programme for young footballers, has opened its doors in Madrid, welcoming the first players who will live, train and study during the 2012-23 academic year at the ESC LaLiga & NBA Centre.

The 37 young people from more than 20 different countries, including Mexico, France, Lebanon, Poland and Japan, will study in a college integrated in the Centre and will train according to the LaLiga Methodology. The players, aged between 14 and 17, come to Madrid to improve their abilities, focusing on excellence and the integral development of their performance in both academic and sporting fields.

LaLiga Academy is the first annual programme launched by LaLiga in Spain, and joins the more than 550 grassroots football projects in more than 43 countries that have been developed since 2015, brought together within LaLiga Grassroots, the initiative launched in 2021 to promote global grassroots football. LaLiga is a pioneer among the major footballing competitions for having created a network of permanent academies based on its own training system, which is especially valued at international level, forged from the wealth of knowledge accumulated through Spanish grassroots football.

“Since 2015 we have trained more than 200,000 players around the world using the LaLiga Methodology, a unique system focused on the overall development of the player, which includes 4 key areas: tactical-cognitive, technical-coordinative, physical-conditional and psychological-socio-affective. We already have 10 permanent academies in countries such as Indonesia and the USA, but this project is special because of the direct relationship with our headquarters and the contact with the LaLiga ecosystem and its clubs,” says Juan Florit, head of Sports Projects at LaLiga and who leads the technical and sporting side of LaLiga Grassroots.

“In addition, we have held Tryouts in countries such as Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United Arab Emirates, and two of the selected players have been awarded full scholarships which cover their entire training stay in Spain. However, the programme is open to all players looking to reach their full potential in a programme, and facilities, that are unique in the world,” states Javier Hernandez, Head of Business and International Development at LaLiga Grassroots.

Sport and education in a state-of-the-art complex

The launch of these programmes in Spain coincides with the opening of the new ESC LaLiga & NBA complex, which includes accommodation for more than 400 people with 24-hour security, an international college equipped with an auditorium, library and laboratory, a clinic and several areas for gaming, relaxation and study. Furthermore, the complex has two state-of-the-art football pitches as well as different training areas, including a gymnasium and swimming pool, plus the NBA training pavilion which is still to be completed, making it the ideal place to provide the combination of sporting and academic training that LaLiga Grassroots projects seek to achieve.

These facilities will also be available to all LaLiga clubs for the implementation of exclusive training programmes, brand internationalisation projects and other needs, in addition to the LaLiga Academy Manager software, developed by LaLiga to optimise the management and daily operation of youth teams and academies.