La Liga, Spain’s top professional league, announced a new partnership with IberCup SA this week.

IberCup has a history of making young football players’ dreams a reality across the globe. As one of the largest international youth football tournaments in the world, it offers players the opportunity to play against the best football academy clubs in different international locations.

Attendees at the launch this week included former Bafana Bafana players Brian Baloyi and Naughty Mokoena, who said they were excited to hear about the plans to host a variety of football clinics in Joburg next year.

Through the clinics, it’s expected that a total of 180 young football enthusiasts (from U-10 to U-18) will get the chance to be trained by La Liga coaches.

Additionally, 60 local coaches will also get the chance to attend a workshop to improve their skills.

Marcos Pelegrin, La Liga Southern Africa MD, said: “La Liga is proud to contribute to football’s legacy in SA. We have embarked on many initiatives to develop the sport in SA, and we are very pleased to have another opportunity to not only shape the growth of young players and coaches, but also build a relationship with IberCup that can accelerate local players’ skills even further.”

Michael Bender, CEO of IberCup SA, added: “We’re very excited about this partnership and the opportunity to create platforms of recognition for young football players in SA to develop to their full potential. More important is the fact that with this football partnership, we can contribute to building a better society for our youth.

"We know SA has huge potential and with projects like this we establish a foothold as a country to compete on the international stage and to host more youth football events in the future.”