Global Fútbol

LaLiga and Wakatake Group are launching LaLiga Camps Japan 2023 as part of their long-term partnership, an alliance which is further strengthened by this latest edition of the initiative. An announcement took place at LaLiga’s headquarters in Madrid and was attended by Joel Santos and Miguel Muñoz from Wakatake Group and by Francisco Javier Hernández, Head of International Development at LaLiga Grassroots.

Within this programme, different levels of clinics and camps will be held using the LaLiga Methodology and they’ll take place in four venues across the country: Ishikawa, Yamanashi, Hokkaido and Kagawa, running from August 9th to 19th.

The collaboration between the two entities has already produced excellent results over the past three years, as almost 200 young Japanese footballers have worked out with LaLiga and Wakatake in the different training stages that have taken place in both Spain and Japan. This is having a truly positive impact on the growth in Japan of football in general and of LaLiga in particular.

The aim of the camps and clinics is for players of all levels between the ages of 10 and 14 to have access to some of the resources and common elements that have led to the youth academies of LaLiga clubs being considered worldwide benchmarks.  

This is a collaboration in which numerous LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank clubs have participated, such as Athletic Club, Deportivo Alavés, Getafe CF, Villarreal CF, Rayo Vallecano, Sevilla FC, Real Betis, Valencia CF and Levante UD. These collaborations, during which certain players selected by Wakatake Group have trained and played with the clubs’ own youth teamers, have helped achieve visibility and helped support the development of the clubs internationally.

Carlos Casal, Football Programmes Coordinator at LaLiga, said: “One of the keys to the LaLiga Methodology is to have a holistic approach to player development, and this is something we extend to all sporting projects. We work on four pillars: the technical, tactical, physical and psycho-emotional development of all participating children, always using football as an ideal medium for transmitting values and developing people.”

Javier Hernández, Head of International Development at LaLiga Grassroots, added: “LaLiga has already trained more than 200,000 players in 50 countries, and more than 900 through the LaLiga Camps format. This experience is reflected in the quality of the short-term programmes we run in other countries as well as the training stages we organise in Spain.”