LALIGA signs multi-year consultancy partnership with Chad's sports ministry
Image by La Liga
LALIGA has signed a multi-year consultancy agreement with Chad's Ministry of Youth and Sports to help professionalise football in the country, covering talent identification, coach training, a planned National Academy and reform of the domestic league. The agreement was formalised at LALIGA's Madrid headquarters on Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed. Minister of Youth and Sports Naïr Abakar led a Chadian delegation to Madrid for the signing and a planning session with LALIGA's project team.
The First Phase
The first phase will focus on talent and institutional development. LALIGA will run a national talent identification campaign, establish a monitoring system for players identified, advise on the design of the National Academy, train coaches and sports managers, and assess the domestic league with recommendations for reform.
The Second Phase
A second phase will cover the academy's rollout, implementation of league and club recommendations, and the transfer of processes and skills to local staff. "Our ambition for Chadian football is to give our young players the right environment in which to develop, enable our clubs to grow and make our league more competitive. We have chosen this partnership with LALIGA to help fulfil that ambition," Abakar said. "Together, we want to build a programme whose results can be seen in players' careers, coaches' work and the day-to-day life of our clubs."
Project Delivery
The project will be delivered by LALIGA's Madrid-based Sports Projects team, which includes UEFA Pro-licensed coaches and specialists in methodology, psychology and physical conditioning. LALIGA says it has promoted more than 1,000 sports projects in 60 countries since 2015. Abakar, appointed in April 2026, has also made football infrastructure a priority. Last month, Chad opened its first FIFA Arena mini-pitch in Koumra, the first of 23 the government has pledged to build, one in each region.
This is ultimately a services contract: Chad is buying professional football expertise from a European league. LALIGA has used a similar model before, including a strategic consulting agreement with China's CFL that runs to 2029. The immediate value for Chad is expertise rather than capital. The announcement contains no investment commitment from LALIGA and does not disclose the consultancy fee, leaving the cost to the ministry unclear. The value goes far beyond the contract for La Liga, the league opened a permanent African office and marked ten years on the continent in November 2025. Its matches now reach 48 sub-Saharan markets through DAZN under a separate agreement running to 2028/29.
An advisory role gives LALIGA access to the institutions shaping football development, from academies to league structures. Penku, LALIGA's Managing Director in Africa, previously spent five years as the league's business development consultant for Central Africa before taking his current role in 2023. The test now moves from design to execution. A national academy requires funding, staffing and sustained government support, while league reform requires implementation beyond the initial diagnosis.
