The League Management Company (LMC) and the Spanish La Liga Enter Into Partnership

The League Management Company (LMC) and the Spanish La Liga, have sealed a pact that will early next year see Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs' officials undergo capacity building programme through conferences and workshops on sports development.

The project is said to include how to market the various clubs, financial control, club administration, stadium security and players' development. Chairman of the LMC, Shehu Dikko, who was one of the 23 heads of leading global national leagues in attendance at the 2nd World Leagues Forum in Paris, France held on December 1, said the programme is the outcome of his meeting with Chairman of La Liga, Javier Tebas.

Dikko disclosed that the LMC has already received a working document and “what we did at the meeting in Paris was to agree to next steps including the arrangements to send our delegates to Madrid. They are also waiting on our dates which I think we are considering early February”. we concluded collaboration between the NPFL and the La Liga towards assisting the NPFL in its developmental programmes in areas of capacity building that will be achieved through conferences and workshops on technical matters such as coaching, match administration, marketing, financial control, stadium security and players' development etc”.

He said there also will be programmes on knowledge exchange between the La Liga clubs and the NPFL clubs, noting that “this will involve the participation of club administrators, coaches and technical personnel from the NPFL clubs to Spain for technical understudy with La Liga clubs. They also will from time to time send their own officials here”.

Initial contact with the La Liga was made at the first World Leagues Meeting in England and while extensive discussions were held between officials of the LMC and the La Liga, the Spanish league extended an invitation to the LMC for concretization of the mutual pact.

Dikko said, “the LMC will continue to explore bilateral beneficial pacts for the growth of the league and more especially for our club managers who are the spine of the structure of any successful league. We must translate the leaps at the LMC to administration at the club level and this we seek to achieve through collaborations with some of the world acclaimed successful leagues”.

Other members that were present were Commissioner of the United States' Major League Soccer, Don Garber, Mitsuri Murai of Japan's J-League, Christian Seifert, the Chief Executive of German Football League and Frederic Thiriez, the President of the French League.

Compiled by Adekunle Adewale