Spain’s La Liga Launches Football Talent Search Programme in the UAE
As part of its global search for emerging talent, La Liga will select eight promising male and female footballers from the UAE to join an elite development programme in Madrid.

La Liga, Spain’s premier football league, has launched a new talent discovery initiative in the UAE aimed at identifying and developing emerging young footballers. The programme will see eight players—four male and four female—selected to travel to Madrid for an intensive training experience.
Unveiled during a press conference in Dubai, the initiative is part of La Liga FC Futures, a global talent development platform that has already launched in the United States and South Africa, with further expansion planned in Vietnam and Guatemala.
In the UAE, trials are being held at the High Performance Centre in Dubai Sports City, with around 200 players from local academies participating. Candidates are evaluated on their technical skills, mindset and sportsmanship, with the final cohort set to gain hands-on experience through club visits, guided tours and high-level training sessions in Madrid.
The programme was announced by Raúl Ostalé, Head of Marketing and Content for La Liga in the MENA region, alongside Daniels Pitrows, CEO of Dubai’s High Performance Centre, and Rubém Cano Sierra, Technical Manager for La Liga Sports Projects.
The UAE is the latest stop in La Liga’s growing international youth outreach efforts, aiming to connect with emerging talent and offer them access to the infrastructure, knowledge and mentorship of one of the world’s most competitive football leagues.
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