La Liga, the association that operates the top two tiers of soccer in Spain, has partnered with the General Sports Authority (GSA) of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), the governing body for soccer in the country.
The multi-year collaboration will be focused on the GSA's wider commitment to grow the sport across all levels in Saudi Arabia and will include branding opportunities, an academy partnership and a talent ID scouting initiative for young soccer players in the Asian country.
La Liga has given the SAFF the right to create and develop local soccer academies in Saudi Arabia under the label of its brand, technical supervision and expertise. The academies are intended to provide young Saudi players with high-quality training methods and to help aspiring coaches across the country improve their skills and methodologies.
Additionally, La Liga and the SAFF will develop and implement scouting programmes for local professional, youth and non-professional players, with the aim of identifying future national team players and sending them to train with La Liga academies.
Adolfo Bara, head of sales, marketing and sponsorship for La Liga, said: "We are not just the best league in the world, but the most popular one in the Middle East, therefore this agreement between GSA, SAFF and LaLiga will undoubtedly uncover some major talents from Saudi Arabia and bring us even closer to our fans in the region."