Global Fútbol

With the aim to continue as a reference in the world of grassroots football, LaLiga collaborates with its clubs to optimise the processes involved with structuring their academies.

This month at the LaLiga Academies Meeting, the leaders of youth football were able to see first-hand two new projects that will be launched for the 20/21 season: LaLiga Training Hub and the Management and the Academy Management and Control Software.

Organised by LaLiga’s Competition Area and Sporting Projects Department and carried out online, this edition saw the participation of women's football clubs for the first time, with a total of 46 clubs attending.

New training programme divided into ten modules
LaLiga Training Hub is a multidisciplinary and exclusive training programme for professionals who make up the different sporting areas (both male and female) of LaLiga clubs, which will run throughout the season with monthly intensive sessions.

In addition to offering specific training in areas that are in line with the needs of the clubs, the programme will include visits to national and international academies of reference in order to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge. Specialists and coaches who are a reference in other sports will also be part of LaLiga Training Hub.

As Juan Florit, head of LaLiga's sports projects department, explained: “Spanish football is an international benchmark and we want to continue creating links with other groups that can help the development of our academies, while exploring other areas of knowledge that may be applicable."
The programme will not only cover the training and development of the players, but also those of the coaches and professionals who form part of the clubs’ grassroots football efforts.

A specific module dedicated to women's football and the development of female players has also been introduced. "Although all modules are applicable to women's football, we wanted to dedicate a specific space to address the development of young female players and their influence on the training process," added Florit.

The general structure of the programme, as well as its training modules, format, duration and teaching staff, have been created with the involvement and collaboration of 30 LaLiga clubs, which formed part of a working group responsible for the design and development of the project. 

The foundations of the project are therefore based on the ideas, preferences and recommendations that the clubs have been sharing with LaLiga over more than three months of joint planning work.

New software allows complete management of the academy
The Academy Management and Control Software, designed and built entirely by LaLiga (with the expertise of the sporting projects department and the development of the technology department), is a comprehensive management platform for football academies.

Among the functions that are offered by the software, the user can optimise training time, create specific training methodologies, monitor training sessions remotely and unify communications.
“The software centralises the monitoring of training and team management, saving time and allowing a full 360-degree view of the training process,” Florit commented.

The software is already being used on a pilot basis in several of LaLiga's international sports projects. During the meeting LaLiga was able to demonstrate all the functionalities and possible evolutions of the software and illustrate how they could be applied to the day-to-day running of a professional academy.

Collaboration in grassroots football
The objective of the LaLiga Academies Meetings, which began four seasons ago, is to bring together the managers of the LaLiga academies periodically to maintain close ties and exchange knowledge and experiences. These events therefore help to develop and improve the work that is already taking place in LaLiga academies, which by extension enables the future growth of Spanish football.

“These meetings are a true reflection of the unity and collaboration that exists between all LaLiga clubs,” concluded Florit. “Not only are experiences shared, but LaLiga also puts its experience and technology at the service of grassroots football with the aim of making Spanish football grow as a whole.”