Casa Árabe and LaLiga seal strategic alliance to promote Arab culture and sport
Casa Árabe and LaLiga have presented in Madrid their new collaboration agreement, which is intended to continue over time and which reinforces LaLiga's commitment to its development in the Middle East and North Africa region, following the announcement of its new joint-venture in the area. The alliance will involve the development of different joint projects to promote the values of Arab sport and culture.
The first of these initiatives will be "Football for Hope", a Casa Árabe project which LaLiga will join and which will last for 5 months. Under this umbrella, professional meetings, talks, exhibitions, cinema, and outdoor sports and leisure activities, among other proposals, will be offered within the framework of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which will take place from 21 November to 18 December in the Gulf country and in which four Arab teams will participate: Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Qatar. These activities will take place in different locations, such as Madrid, Barcelona and Cordoba.
The Middle East and North Africa region is strategic for LaLiga, and has been one of the cornerstones of its international expansion. LaLiga was the first major European sports league to create an office in this area in 2014, when it opened its permanent office in Dubai. The first of LaLiga's permanent international academies also opened in the United Arab Emirates in 2015, which currently has offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and last season had more than 1,000 registrations, a record number. Support for the development of grassroots football in the region is strong, and in this line in March 2021 the opening of LaLiga Academy Kuwait was also announced. In addition, the new joint-venture in the region has recently been presented, which shows this commitment to the future.
"The aim of this alliance is to promote the values of sport in society, as well as to give visibility to Arab culture in our country, through the development of joint activities and programmes," says Irene Lozano, Casa Árabe's director general.
"We believe in sport as a tool for social transformation, which is why this collaboration is fundamental for us. We have been working for many years in the region, which has a very young population with a great interest in football, so the potential for growth is very great. With this agreement we seek to promote the growth of football in the region based on the values of sport and culture, as well as giving visibility to the Arab world," said Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga.