Abu Dhabi Sports Council and du La Liga High HPC officials during a press conference.

Abu Dhabi Sports Council announced on Tuesday the launch of a new partnership with du La Liga High Performance Centre (HPC) that is designed to power the professional development of high potential talent at Abu Dhabi National Clubs.

The announcement was made during a press conference held on Tuesday at Abu Dhabi Sports Council headed by Aref Al Awani, Secretary General, Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Ahmad Aburahima, du’s Senior Vice-President of Government Relations, Fernando Sanz, La Liga’s Director General for MENA and Hussein Murad, CEO of Inspiratus.

Under the new partnership between the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and du La Liga High Performance Centre, 2 players from each of the four clubs Al Jazira, Al Wahda, Baniyas, Al Dhafra and Al Ain will join the du LaLiga HPC summer programme in Spain in August 2019, where they will raise their level of play in competitive matches against the best La Liga youth clubs.

In preparation for this trip, they will undergo intensive training during the month of June at the du La Liga High Performance Centre. The Centre was established in 2016 to train and develop the UAE’s top football talent to La Liga’s standards at the hands of La Liga Pro-UEFA certified coaches, in preparation for professional football careers. They will continue their training as well while in Spain.

Commenting on the new agreement, Awani stated: “Our new partnership with du La Liga HPC is vital to the growth of and development of football at Abu Dhabi clubs. It is in line with ADSC’s leadership role nationally, forward-looking vision and ambition to offer high potential talent opportunities to develop and excel in sports in the UAE. It also reflects the importance that the Abu Dhabi Sports Council lends to delivering high impact initiatives and programmes which contribute to advancing the level of sports across the nation.

“We are very pleased with the announcement of this new initiative with du La Liga HPC, which is a key part of our roadmap for elevating the level of football within Abu Dhabi clubs, including that of talented players, through harnessing LaLiga’s methodology, one of the most important in Europe and across the world. This announcement extends our ongoing 6 year relationship with La Liga on du Football Champions as well as the successful 18 workshops we conducted together which have benefited 1,100 participants in Abu Dhabi to date,” he added.

Aburahima said: “We are proud of our partnership with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council which reflects our shared vision to nurture youth football development in Abu Dhabi and throughout the national. Through this partnership, we look forward to supporting in producing a pipeline of professional players from the UAE able to compete at the highest levels in the world’s most important competitions.”

“This partnership also reflects our social responsibility mission to provide the opportunity for all high potential talent in the UAE to develop their skills du La Liga High Performance Centre, which is an incubator of talent that is producing a pipeline of world-class professional footballers for clubs and national teams.”

Sanz said: “We are delighted to partner with Abu Dhabi Sports Council for du La Liga HPC, leveraging La Liga’s technical capabilities and experience in producing world-class talent. We look forward to a great collaboration that aims to empower youth to compete at international levels and support the UAE’s ambitious goals to take football to a new level.”

du La Liga HPC has established a reputation for excellence since its establishment, winning the UAE National League Champions for three consecutive years. It is today home to 150 high potential talent, hand-picked from across the nation and has become a scouting ground for national and regional clubs and national teams.

To date 15 du La Liga HPC players have been invited for trials with Spanish La Liga clubs and 10 players have been awarded professional contracts with national teams as well as regional and local clubs including Shabab al Ahli Dubai, Al Nasr, Al Ain and Nejmeh Club in Lebanon.