The third edition of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and Spanish La Liga Annual Coaching Clinic will hold across five days in Abuja next week, with organizers promising more far-reaching benefits.
La Liga Sports Project Coordinator, Juan Zapata said the clinic will have about 100 youth coaches in attendance at Abuja National Stadium from Monday, January 21st to Friday 25th.
Sports247.ng learnt that Nigerian league elite coaches will participate in the clinic, alongside some officials of League Management Company (LMC) and a technical support crew from Spain.
Officials from Arsenal of England will also be involved in this year’s clinic, which will precede the NPFL U-15 Promises Tournament.
The partnership was signed in 2016 and has since recorded a number of exchange projects between both leagues, including a tour of Spain by an NPFL All-Star team, and the opening of the La Liga Nigeria office in Abuja.
Zapata added that the clinic is designed to train youth coaches on how to properly develop young talents, while using La Liga methodology.
He added that the content will be framed within a level-3 professional syllabus, with complex and technical aspects, as a continuation of levels 1 for beginners and 2 for intermediate training from the past editions.
Zapata said: “The first two editions of the clinic were highly successful and we are once again thrilled to have the opportunity to spread La Liga’s methodology across Nigeria and Africa with the third edition.
“We are committed to each of our projects across Africa, and sending La Liga instructors to again train youth coaches in Nigeria aims to further show our commitment to development of football in the country.”