Exclusive: LaLiga delegate discusses his role in Egypt

CAIRO – 9 April 2018: Spanish football’s popularity has been increasing in Egypt in recent years, with millions of Egyptian fans following their league.

The Spanish League, known as LaLiga, has attracted many fans, as two of the best teams in the world, Real Madrid and Barcelona, are competing in the league with some of the world’s biggest stars.

Realizing the importance of connecting with their fans throughout the entire world, LaLiga launched their Global Network in 2016 and sent 44 delegates to 44 countries, including Egypt.

In an exclusive interview, Egypt Today sat down with Juan Fuentes Fernandez, LaLiga Global Network’s delegate in Egypt, to understand more about the role he plays in Egypt and what LaLiga can do to improve football in Egypt.

What is the role you are playing in Egypt?

I am the LaLiga Global Network delegate in Egypt. This project was launched by LaLiga last year, as we realized how important it is to be on the ground to understand our fans in every country, to support our foreign partners and broadcasters, to offer help to institutions to develop football globally, and to explore further opportunities in other areas, like corporate social responsibility (CSR) and women’s football. The main objective is to increase our brand value internationally, creating synergies. I am the liaison between any Egyptian stakeholder and LaLiga with the objective to promote LaLiga activities and values cooperating with current or potential partners.

Why did LaLiga decide to send a delegate to Egypt?

Egypt is a huge country with a very high interest in Spanish football. Besides, we have already run some projects here. With Pepsi, we launched Pepsi Stars, a massive scouting process to detect talent in Egypt; we took 24 Egyptian kids to Spain to train and play with top-tier football clubs. Secondly, we do have a local sponsor in Egypt, Orange, and we work together with Sela Sports, who are helping us to find further commercial collaborations.

On the other hand, Egypt is one of the countries with the highest number of followers on our social media channels; in MENA, we reach almost 5 million.

Egypt is a very similar country when it comes to football consumption; Egyptians gather in cafés to watch and comment on their favorite matches exactly as we do.

Will you arrange meetings with people in charge of Egyptian football?

We do have agreements with several federations and leagues worldwide in order to transfer know-how regarding football development, but also digital or marketing management. I will be glad to answer the call of any Egyptian sports organization willing to know more about La Liga’s experience and know-how for any kind of improvement.

Despite having the two biggest clubs in the world, there are still the other Spanish teams that have the ability to compete with them; does the Spanish Football Federation help them financially?

The Spanish Football Federation and LaLiga are two separate entities. Thanks to the centralized TV-rights-sales process managed by LaLiga, income distribution is made on an equal basis, but also awards sports performance. In such a way, product value rises and all the teams come off best.

Since 2015, when it comes to distributing the incomes, the distribution system aims to reduce the gap between the top tier teams and the rest of them.

Do you think Egyptian players can find success in Spain like Mohamed Salah did in England?

Fortunately we had Mido playing for RC Celta in 2002 and Amro Tarek for Real Betis. Mido just played for half a season, but he did a great job. There are great Egyptian players in and outside Egypt who could play in Spain.

Can you imagine LaLiga after the Ronaldo-Messi era?

We've always had and have the best players. LaLiga teams have been doing a great job in recent years when it comes to talent scouting and development. We have very talented players and more are about to come. I think we are doing great in long-term investment in talent scouting and development to secure high-quality players for the oncoming years.

What do you expect for Egypt’s national team in the World Cup?

The national team might be aware of what Group A entails: Russia, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia… Although Egypt avoided top European teams, facing the host country and also a regional derby will be challenging.

Whatever happens, the most important for now is that after 28 years, Egypt qualified, and I feel really pleased for that. I have seen Salah´s goal against Congo in the 94th minute many times; such a great moment. I felt really happy for Egypt. The country deserves it. If there is something better than the Pyramids in Egypt, that is its people. Everyone is tremendously happy and I also share that feeling.