Some of the country’s top young football talents, including eight representatives from Dubai clubs, will be flying to Malaga later this summer to hone their skills as part of du LaLiga High Performance Centre’s Summer Programme in Spain.

The Summer Programme - part of a new joint initiative between Dubai Sports Council, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, and the du LaLiga High Performance Centre - is designed to power the professional development of high-potential talent in the UAE, and at Dubai football clubs in particular.

Du LaLiga HPC’s talent scouts have picked 51 players – 17 each for the Under-7, Under-16 and Under-15 teams – for the 15-day camp in Spain, where they will play three competitive matches against Spanish LaLiga’s top youth clubs and one match against a Spanish academy side during their 15th - 31st August stay.

The squad for the programme includes a striker and a goalkeeper from each of Dubai four clubs and the selected players are: Rabee Hassan Al Balooshi and Yousef Al Rahma of Al Wasl, Shabab Al Ahli Dubai’s Khalifa Saeed and Musa Abdulla Musa, Saif Al Badawi and Fares Al Badawi of Hatta, and Al Nasr’s Ahmad Al Balooshi and Ali Al Jassemi.

The players are already training at an intensive internal camp, which will run until 19th June. They will then go on a break before returning for their flight to Spain on 15th August.

Congratulating the Dubai club players and the others picked for the du LaLiga Summer Programme, Saeed Hareb, Secretary-General of Dubai Sports Council, said, “This partnership between Dubai Sports Council and du LaLiga High Performance Centre is really exciting because it focuses on the development of top talents from Dubai clubs, which has been one of Dubai Sports Council’s top strategic objectives from the outset.

“Through our partnership with du, a visionary leader, and LaLiga, the strongest league in the world, we will take UAE’s professional football development to the next level.”

Talking about the training camp, Hussein Murad, CEO of Inspiratus - the managing company for du LaLiga HPC, stated, “We are very excited to kick off the first leg of training for du LaLiga HPC together with the UAE’s finest national club players in preparation for the du LaLiga Summer Programme in Spain. The training will play a key role in strengthening their skills and the Summer Programme will help them gain international exposure and experience through playing against the best youth players in LaLiga, the strongest league in the world.

WAM