Chad: La Liga has announced an agreement to professionalize football in Chad.
Chad LaLiga announces partnership to professionalize Chadian football
The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Chad and LaLiga formalized a significant strategic partnership on Thursday, October 1, 2026, in Madrid.
Led by Chadian Minister Naïr Abakar and LaLiga President Javier Tebas, this multi-year collaboration lays the groundwork for a large-scale technical partnership.
The main goal is to combine the managerial strength of Spanish football with the local dynamics in Chad to sustainably structure the sport.
This ambitious program revolves around four fundamental pillars to elevate Chadian football to international standards: identifying young talents across the country, elite training for coaches and local club managers, technical support for establishing the future National Football Academy, and structural development as well as professionalizing the Chadian national championship.
Here is the complete statement:
Chad and LaLiga establish a strategic alliance to promote growth and modernization of football in the country
Chad and LaLiga have signed an agreement to leverage LaLiga's experience and expertise in support of the priorities of Chadian football, through initiatives in training, talent identification, institutional strengthening, and support for the future National Academy.
Madrid, October 1, 2026 – Chad is taking a significant turn in the evolution of its football. The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Chad and LaLiga have established a partnership aimed at fostering the development and professionalization of Chadian football as part of a progressive multi-year project.
This project aims to assist Chad in a gradual transformation process, enhancing its capabilities and implementing tools and methodologies that generate a lasting impact.
The synergy between talent, training, methodology, governance, and skills transfer will adapt LaLiga's experience to the needs and priorities defined by Chad, collaborating with local institutions and stakeholders. This project aims to combine local knowledge and the commitment of Chadian actors with LaLiga's expertise and methodology to facilitate talent identification and development, training, and strengthening the structures of Chadian football. The agreement was formalized at LaLiga's headquarters during the visit of Minister of Youth and Sports Naïr Abakar, accompanied by a Chadian delegation.
The visit also allowed for the presentation of LaLiga's main work areas and organized a working meeting between the Chadian delegation and the project team to advance planning for the next steps. The Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Chad, Naïr Abakar, stated: “Our ambition for Chadian football is to provide our young players with a conducive environment for their development, to allow our clubs to evolve, and to make our championship more competitive.
We chose this partnership with LaLiga to achieve this ambition. It combines recognized expertise in professional football with local knowledge and the commitment of our football community. Together, we want to establish a program whose benefits will be felt in the careers of players, the work of coaches, and the daily lives of our clubs.”
LaLiga President Javier Tebas affirmed: “LaLiga is delighted to support Chad in this project. Our advisory missions in various regions of the world allow us to share our know-how and methodology, closely collaborating with local institutions and professionals to adapt to the specificities of each country. Through this collaboration, we aim to generate knowledge, capabilities, and tools that can develop sustainably over time.”
“This cooperation represents an opportunity to leverage LaLiga's expertise and experience for the development of football in Chad, working alongside local stakeholders to build solid and sustainable foundations. We aim to support this process comprehensively, combining talent, training, methodology, and strengthening local capacities so that the knowledge gained remains within the country's football ecosystem and contributes to its long-term development,” added Trésor Penku, General Director of LaLiga in Africa.
A FIRST PHASE DEDICATED TO ESTABLISHING FOUNDATIONS
The first phase of the project will focus on establishing the foundations for the subsequent stages of collaboration. The main work areas include implementing a national talent identification campaign and establishing a tracking system for identified players; providing technical advice on the design and organization of the future National Academy; training coaches, managers, and sports officials; as well as conducting a strategic diagnosis of the national championship, accompanied by recommendations and a roadmap for its development.
This initial step will primarily be structural and aims to establish a shared methodology by combining the local knowledge of Chadian professionals with LaLiga's experience, strengthening national capacities, gaining a precise understanding of the needs of clubs and competitions, and defining the necessary conditions to engage, in a second phase, in a broader operational implementation.
The subsequent phases of the project will aim to progressively implement the transformation of Chadian football structures. Planned actions include the operational establishment and consolidation of the future National Academy to ensure the continuity of talent identification, training, and player tracking processes.
The project will also allow for the application of the recommendations made for the league and clubs, harmonizing processes and transferring knowledge and skills to Chadian teams and professionals, with the goal of strengthening sustainable capacities and contributing to the long-term development of Chadian football.
A COLLABORATION FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE
For Chad, this agreement opens new perspectives for training and professionalization, embedding exchanges with Spanish football over the long term. For LaLiga, this initiative marks an unprecedented collaboration in Sub-Saharan Africa and reinforces its commitment to sharing its experience and know-how to promote the sustainable development of other football ecosystems.
Through this partnership, LaLiga continues to apply its expertise to the development of football ecosystems worldwide and to enhance its ability to collaborate with local institutions on projects aimed at generating knowledge, encouraging professionalization, and developing skills that remain rooted in the territory.
LaLiga has extensive international experience in developing sports projects, with over 1,000 initiatives carried out since 2015 in 60 countries worldwide. Over the years, it has collaborated with federations, leagues, and clubs in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia, applying its know-how and methodology to the evolution of their sports structures. This expertise is based on a specialized team in sports projects, based in Madrid, consisting of professionals holding the highest UEFA Pro qualification, with club experience and international careers, as well as experts in areas such as methodology, psychology, and physical preparation.
About the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Chad
The Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Chad directs government action in favor of youth and the development of sports. It works to promote sports practice, train leaders, and support structures that foster the emergence of national talents. Its action aims to make sports a vector of development, cohesion, and opportunities for young people. In collaboration with stakeholders in the sports movement and its international partners, it supports the strengthening of skills and conditions for practice in the territory. About LaLiga LaLiga is the largest football ecosystem in the world.
It is a private sports association comprising the 20 football clubs of LaLiga EA SPORTS and the 22 clubs of LaLiga HYPERMOTION, responsible for organizing professional football competitions at the national level. It has over 268 million followers on social media worldwide, spread across 16 platforms and in 20 different languages. Based in Madrid, Spain, it has the widest international network among all sports entities, with a presence in 35 countries through 8 offices.
The association conducts its social actions through the LaLiga Foundation and is the first professional football league in the world to organize a competition for footballers with intellectual disabilities: LaLiga Genuine Moeve.
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