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Kuala Lumpur 19 June 2025 -The Meliá Kuala Lumpur hotel hosted the second edition of LALIGA EXTRATIME Malaysia, LALIGA's own networking event that has become in recent years a benchmark in the international sports industry and is held in strategic markets for LALIGA. This edition featured two panels focused on two topics of utmost importance in the country: sports sponsorship and grassroots football. In addition, the event was used to announce the details of the new edition in 2025 of the LALIGA Youth Tournament Malaysia, which will be held in July. LALIGA EXTRATIME is an exclusive format that has been a success in its two editions in Malaysia, fulfilling its objective of bringing together key industry players and offering high-level information and networking.
After opening speeches by Datuk Zainal Abidin Hassan, representative of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), and the Spanish Ambassador to Malaysia, José Luis Pardo, two panels were held. One, on sports sponsorship, with the participation of LALIGA, ASTRO, Ampersand Sports, MILO Malaysia, Grab and Selangor FC; and the second on youth football, with LALIGA Academy Malaysia, FAM, JDT FC Grassroots and Villarreal Academy Malaysia and special interventions by Sambil Park, organizer of LLYT and LLYL Malaysia, and RCD Espanyol, which explained their youth football and international academies strategies.
Regarding sports sponsorship, Adrián Prol, Head of LALIGA in Malaysia, revealed in the panel that LALIGA has gone from a turnover of 74 million to more than 160 million with its commercial business in just 7 years. He emphasized "the importance for LALIGA of obtaining relevant sponsors at a global level, since they have considerably increased the brand's notoriety and growth has been exponential".
Prol explained that, in Malaysia, one of the main objectives is to achieve new sponsorships that become local partners of LALIGA in the long term and not only for punctual projects, with special interest in areas such as energy, watches, airlines, finance and insurance. He also highlighted the importance of collaboration with clubs and broadcasters and LALIGA's flexibility in adapting the sponsorship model, which seeks to reach individual solutions tailored to each sponsor according to common interests.
LALIGA sees opportunities in Malaysia's grassroots future
LALIGA has accumulated more than 840 youth football projects in 57 countries around the world in recent years. More than 800 LALIGA coaches, 25,000 local coaches and more than 240,000 young players have participated in these training projects to promote grassroots football globally.
In Malaysia, grassroots football is one of the pillars of LALIGA's strategy, as there is an important synergy between LALIGA's experience and knowledge in this field and the opportunity for growth in the local field, which is investing more and more in it. In fact, the Asian country is home to one of the 8 official LALIGA academies worldwide: LALIGA Academy Malaysia, an exclusive academy where talents between 8 and 18 years old receive comprehensive training under the LALIGA Methodology and directed by a technical director of the entity, Diego Gutierrez. In addition, LALIGA also promotes the opportunity to raise the competitive level of young Malaysian talents with competitions such as the LALIGA Youth League and the LALIGA Youth Tournament.
Precisely during this LALIGA Extratime Malaysia event, the details of the fifth edition of the LALIGA Youth Tournament, which will take place this July, were announced. The project partners, Sambil Park, revealed that there are already more than 70 teams confirmed from 9 different countries such as China, India and Pakistan. Malaysia is precisely the country where this project was born, and now it has been replicated in more than 5 countries in the region.
"LALIGA is recognized worldwide for its support of grassroots football, and its clubs' youth academies are consistently among the best in the world, as demonstrated by clubs such as Villarreal CF and RCD Espanyol, who have also participated here today. We have a strong commitment to promoting the development of football around the world and we are delighted to be able to host the LALIGA Youth Tournament again in Malaysia," said Adrian Prol, head of LALIGA in Malaysia.
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