A collaboration agreement between the South African Football Association (SAFA) and LaLiga was signed in Johannesburg on Friday, 12 May 2017.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas and SAFA president Dr Danny Jordaan took centre stage at the presentation, which was held at LaLiga offices in Johannesburg.

The agreement will allow LaLiga and SAFA to promote social integration, culture and social development in South Africa through sporting development and activities.

LaLiga will help SAFA develop the beautiful game all over the country, particularly in underprivileged and rural areas, by having LaLiga experts train local coaches. Another target defined in the agreement is developing women, schools and youth football throughout the country.

“We’re delighted to be in South Africa. When we opened our offices here, we said that we were here to stay. We’ll get used to seeing Spanish coaches and legendary former players in South Africa. We are currently close to sealing deals for one or two Spanish teams to come here. This agreement will also see our coaches come over to South Africa and we want to make the most of that by gaining information about talented players here who we intent to take to Spain to further develop their game; something that will benefit the players and the Association. LaLiga is a global brand and it needs South African players,” Tebas told the press, after putting pen to paper.

SAFA president Dr Jordaan spoke passionately about the partnership and explained why this joint venture would go a long way in helping the Association realise its ambitious Vision 2022.

“The most important aspect for us is youth development. We want children to play football. We know very well that whenever you ask them which teams they love or support, they always speak of LaLiga clubs.

“Apart from cooperating in football development, LaLiga has invited a SAFA delegation to visit Spain to learn more about their commercial and marketing exploits and see how we can implement some of these to grow our game,” said Dr Jordaan.

The new agreement is a further demonstration of LaLiga’s commitment to developing football all over the globe, promoting Spanish football’s values and LaLiga’s management methods across the continents.

The partnership between SAFA and LaLiga is part of growing the brand. Other parts of the world that have seen such partnerships include Kenya, Japan, Nigeria, Colombia, Honduras and Ecuador, among others.