Global Fútbol

LaLiga and Wakatake Group, official partner of the Spanish championship for the development of grassroots football and the training of coaches in Japan, have held their first joint training camp on Japanese soil with more than 70 players taking part in the sessions held in Osaka and Chiba.

The practical and theory sessions, given by LaLiga Grassroots coaches, who hold a UEFA Pro licence as well as having national and international experience, brought to a close a series of programmes that included, among other things, virtual training sessions for coaches and training camps in Spain with LaLiga clubs. The sessions were carried out in accordance with the rigorous standards of the LaLiga Methodology, which LaLiga has been exporting around the world for 7 years and which is based on the common elements that make LaLiga's youth academies a worldwide benchmark. The 70 Japanese players join the more than 175,000 players that have trained using the Methodology over the years.

 

“From the beginning, we have approached our projects with a focus on the integral development of the player, in such a way that the key areas of the LaLiga Methodology are covered, addressing areas such as technical, tactical and physical, but also personal, psychological and emotional. For us, the player is the project, and the emphasis on individual attention is a differentiating factor that we try to convey in this type of training”, said Juan Florit, head of the technical and sporting side of LaLiga Grassroots.

“We are honoured to be able to reopen the LaLiga Grassroots coaches' trips to Japan after more than two years of being unable to do so due to the pandemic. This type of training allows us to continue to grow and to take the methodology and know-how of LaLiga Grassroots and Wakatake to places such as, in this case, Osaka and Chiba”, said Takeshi Inawaka, CEO of the Wakatake Group..

The training camp in Japan follows those held with Rayo Vallecano, Sevilla FC and Real Betis in February this year in Spain, and those held with Valencia CF, UD Levante and Villarreal CF in October last year, as well as the virtual training sessions for players and coaches held by LaLiga Grassroots coaches and Villarreal CF's own methodology directors together with Athletic Club and SD Eibar in December 2020.

 

Future projects

Looking to the future, LaLiga Grassroots and Wakatake will explore new avenues of collaboration to support the development and growth of grassroots football in Japan so that it can reach new heights.

Among them, an opportunity has opened up for many of Wakatake's young players to spend part of their training at the LaLiga Academy, the long-term program that will be hosted by the new ESC LaLiga & NBA Centre in Madrid, which combines comprehensive sporting and academic training. The Centre, which is set to become a reference hub for LaLiga clubs and Spanish grassroots football, opens its doors in the summer of 2022 and will also host Training Camps for teams from outside Spain, as well as LaLiga Camps, short-term summer camps.