A few weeks ago, the FC Barcelona player, Joao Félix shared on his social networks the details of his visit to the emblematic places in Saudi Arabia. The LALIGA EA SPORTS star took advantage of the league break to enjoy the impressive landscapes, emblematic monuments and rich heritage of this destination with his family. The millions of followers of the Portuguese star were able to discover the rich heritage and landscape of a country in which football has become the best union between cultures.
The 14th Barça player had the opportunity to visit AlUla and the ancient city of Hegra. Hegra is the crown jewel of AlUla, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, an open-air museum with 110 well-preserved tombs of the Nabataean elite, dating back to the first millennium BC. On his journey he also traveled to the former capital of the first Saudi dynasty, Diriyah, and was able to admire a unique structure in the entire world, Marayah also in Al-Ula, which boasts of holding the Guinness record for the largest mirrored building in the world. planet.
Joao Félix has discovered a country with a deep history and ancient heritage, a fascinating mix of tradition and modernity.
Saudi Arabia has also become the venue for some of the most notable sporting events on the planet. Contributing to this is the country’s passion for football, which, once again, has proven to be an essential factor in forging lasting links between cultures.
From the unifying dimension of the beautiful sport, LALIGA and Visit Saudi signed a collaboration agreement a few months ago that seeks to give visibility to the great attractions of Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination and show its spectacular attractions, there are no less than seven places declared Heritage of the Humanity by UNESCO, the same ones that Joao Félix was able to see during his visit. In this way, Visit Saudi became a new global sponsor of LALIGA and a new official tourist destination. “This is a very ambitious long-term project,” highlights Marcos Pelegrin, head of the project in Saudi Arabia, and which focuses on three main areas: “entertainment, development of the sports industry and high performance.”
This alliance confirms the solid ties that unite the Spanish competition and the Arab country, from which millions of fans enthusiastically follow the LALIGA EA SPORTS matches and the talent of great stars like Joao Félix for more than fifteen years. . One more fact to confirm this passion for Spanish professional football: in Saudi Arabia there are six official supporters clubs of our competition.
The visit of the Barça star contributes to reinforcing one of the fundamental objectives of the LALIGA project, “bringing football closer to Saudi fans”, in the words of Marco Pelegrin, who also highlights another main objective of the same: “to help economic growth ”.
From this basis, the agreement aims to strengthen the existing bond, based on the fact that football is a universal language capable of generating bonds and introducing new cultures to its millions of followers.
During their stay, the Portuguese footballer and his family had the opportunity to learn first-hand about several of the entertainment initiatives related to football that have started in the country thanks to this collaboration. “The project is focused on the local fan, since it is one of the countries most passionate about football, as well as the development of its industry,” explains Pelegrin. To achieve this, it is essential to “increase the entertainment offering, accelerate the growth of the soccer industry and collaborate in the development of young talents in the country.” The different initiatives developed are a winning formula to achieve this.
The Barça forward and his companions were able to admire in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, the jewels preserved by LEGENDS, The Home of Football, a unique collection of historical relics from world football, which are valued at 100 million dollars. The museum opened in November 2023 and is located in Boulevard City, the largest leisure center in Riyadh. Two football legends attended the event: Ronaldo Nazario and Luis Figo. Its visitors can find t-shirts of the great stars of world football such as Pelé, Maradona or Messi. Along with them, relics of LALIGA, the UEFA Champions League or the Olympic Games, among other emblematic competitions in the history of sport. All of this surrounded by immersive and interactive experiences and the latest cutting-edge technology.
And just a few meters away, on Boulevard City itself, the passion for sports goes one step further with LALIGA TWENTYNINE’S, a differential sports bar where gastronomy, technological experiences, events, eSports and, of course, football, take place. hand and has become a mandatory stop for everyone who visits the city. And, as the director of LALIGA in the Middle East and North Africa, Maite Ventura, comments, this success has a logical explanation: “It is a society where the passion for football is not something new, the fans have always been there. There is a lot of demand for sports consumption and now countries are developing industries around it.”
Without a doubt, professional footballers like Joao Félix are aware of the relevance that LALIGA FC FUTURES, the most important youth tournament in the world, which will be held in the facilities of the Arab country starting in 2024, has for the youngest athletes. development of this championship, which is contested by the under-12 teams of the most important clubs in Spain and Europe, LALIGA will have the support for its organization from the academies of international clubs and Saudi Arabia. This is a key event for the development of grassroots football and this has been historically demonstrated. In past editions, players of the caliber of Xavi Hernández, Iker Casillas, Fernando Torres, Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Piqué and Dani Carvajal participated. Through this initiative, LALIGA aims to forge a closer bond with the Arab country, with the aim of playing an active and significant role as a promoter and promoter of football in the region.
Furthermore, this year 2024, and as part of the global agreement with Saudi Arabia, the institution will open a new LALIGA BUSINESS SCHOOL training program in the Arab country, an institution that seeks to promote the professional careers of all those for whom football is more than a passion; It is a vocation to which they wish to dedicate their future.
With this agreement, LALIGA reinforces its commitment to spreading the passion for sport in the Arab world. Football has a unifying power, the ability to awaken curiosity and discover history, culture and landscapes. And the collaboration with Visit Saudi is the best example of this. “The country has recently opened up to tourism and there is a general lack of knowledge about what it offers and what it has,” observes Marcos Pelegrin. And the fact that stars like Joao Félix, Ronaldo and Figo visit it “is key so that citizens and football fans can learn about everything it has and offers through their idols,” highlights the director of the project in Saudi Arabia. .
