Global Fútbol

UD Las Palmas’ international development strategy has opened up new avenues of action recently with the organization of a series of activations in Saudi Arabia, all with the objective of developing and growing the club’s brand in the region. The activation of this new market has been made possible thanks to its strategic partner Grintafy, the largest football talent discovery platform in the Middle East, to attend events in the Saudi Arabian cities of Jeddah and Riyadh.

The UD Las Palmas expedition that visited the country included Vicente Gómez, a former player and current sporting department assistant, Paquito Ortiz, a former player and head of innovation at the UD Las Palmas Foundation, and Carlota Aparici, head of expansion and business at the club.

During their stay, they had meetings with various business leaders, companies and local clubs, they arranged scouting sessions and footballing tryouts, they visited the University of Jeddah to give a talk and they set up a watch party at the LALIGA TWENTYNINE’S restaurant in Riyadh, where fans were able to watch the team’s LALIGA EA SPORTS game against Real Madrid on January 27th.

Discussing the club’s desire to grow in Saudi Arabia, an emerging country in the world of football, Carlota Aparici stated: “For UD Las Palmas, this is an opportunity to grow hand in hand with a country that has a lot to offer, where we have sought to understand the culture and values in order to share our know-how and become part of this increasingly professional sporting ecosystem, where there is great investment in talent.”

The head of expansion and business continued: “It’s important for us to feel that we are increasingly present in markets where only a few LALIGA clubs are currently known as we want there to be interest in UD Las Palmas, whether through tourism or private companies that trust us.”

UD Las Palmas were grateful to make this trip alongside a local partner such as Grintafy and to count on the support of LALIGA, who have a delegate and other connections in the country. This helped to make the trip a success for the Canary Islands club.

It was particularly encouraging for UD Las Palmas to see that almost 400 players participated in the tryouts that were organised during their stay. On this, Carlota Aparici added: “Over the course of 10 days, we had the chance to develop a talent programme together with a local partner and we understood that we need to keep working and training young talents. One main objective is for people in the country to recognise us as a club that develops players, that is young and that is dynamic.”

For UD Las Palmas, developing youth footballers in strategic markets is a solid way to grow the club’s brand and to establish a presence in new territories. This is something the Canary Islanders have sought to do in other parts of the world and now they’ll continue to work with Grintafy, with LALIGA and with their new contacts in Saudi Arabia to develop their reputation there.

As Carlota Aparici concluded: “This was our first visit, but we are confident that we will maintain the good connections we established in the country so that we can continue to work with them. Being there alongside a good partner guarantees that this will be a success for the club.”  

These activations represented UD Las Palmas’ first visit to Saudi Arabia, as the club continues to grow its brand around the world following its strategic focus on the UK and Germany, among other markets. The Canary Islanders’ main approach is to ensure that its international expansion intrinsically links sporting growth with business development.