BOITUMELO RANTAO
SPANISH LaLiga kicked off the 2021/2022 campaign celebrating a six-year growing partnership in South Africa.
The 2020/2021 season brought a myriad of enthusiasm from football enthusiasts across Africa which brewed over the disrupted 2019/2020 season. Dark horse Atletico Madrid concluded the season as champions – finishing two points ahead of Real Madrid after the 9-and a- half month season.
Athletico’s Madrid resilient climb to the top of LaLiga came with a winners medal for defensive midfielder Geoffrey Kongdobia, a native of the Central African Republic. Kondogbia provided a wonderful window into the immersion of talented African footballers atop the Spanish throne.
Boasting one of the world’s marquee leagues, LaLiga has sought after innovative ways to engage with fans around the world. This venture includes aiding development in various countries through LaLiga camps, guiding the next generation of women’s and men UEFA Champions League winners.
Last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League winners – FC Barcelona Femeni – boasted that budding star in Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala. Oshoala became the first African woman to win a Champions League medal after a stunning season – adding to her impressive list of achievements with the Spanish titans.
For football purists, LaLiga is almost always the answer – and the Spanish league has only just begun stepping up their game, bringing new fan engagement opportunities, including digital watch parties, on various platforms to those who want to interact with LaLiga.
“From the start, we realised that LaLiga needed to have more than just a physical presence in the country,” remarked Marcos Pelegrin, LaLiga South Africa Managing Director.
The decision proved to be fruitful as growth throughout Africa began. That growth was aided in part by a 210 percent audience increase in South Africa, where La Liga opened an office in Johannesburg in 2015.
This frenzy spread throughout the continent – through a partnership with African broadcast partner SuperSport As the Togolese community mourned the loss when one of their stars left LaLiga, Real Madrid’s Emmanuel Adebayor who was with Los Blancos in 2011. The captain of the Togolese National Men’s team, Djene Dakonam, pulls up his socks for Getafe FC in the 2020/2021 LaLiga season. Dakonam yields the armband for Getafe FC as the only African captain of a Spanish premier division team.
LaLiga is also supporting clubs as they embrace data, helping those that might not have the resources to efficiently harvest and analyse data themselves.
“We have learned how to play the music and now we want to share it with the clubs as well,” LaLiga head of consumer strategy Olivia Archanco explained. “They can just jump in and they don’t have to invest and reinvent the wheel. We help them to go very fast.
“Instead of investing years and years in building all this infrastructure and investing a lot of money on it, what we offer clubs is almost a plug-and-play functionality,” she concluded.
This improves the quality of the football from the ground up. Newly promoted teams, RCD Espanyol, Real Vallecano, and RCD Mallorca, look forward to making their impact on the league in the 2020-2021 season and will be assisted with the data insights to forge their path.
The new inclusions can also look forward to the heart and soul of the league returning for the 2020/2021 league matches – the beautiful voices of the fans in stadiums. Fans can return to stadiums at 60 percent capacity, additional restrictions are subject to regional government, as safety remains a priority.
The Spanish LaLiga has also introduced exciting partnerships with Twitch and Microsoft to engage with fans in a versatile and creative way. Along with the introduction of Puma Accelerate and Adrenaline match balls, unveiled by South African football legend Teko Modise, the new season provides real-time statistics to entice fans.
When the starkling yellow Puma Adrenaline match ball appears, you know there is an exciting fixture on the way – take notice. Kings will clash when the Adrenaline ball meets Ansu Fati and Eduardo Camavinga in the first El Clasico of the season on October 24th. There is no shortage of cinematographic prowess and expert analysis, driving fans forward, along for the ride in the 2020/2021 season.
