Second edition of LaLiga-CEAIE coaching programme in China all set to kick off

The LaLiga headquarters recently hosted a workshop for the 51 Spanish coaches who will be involved in the forthcoming second edition of LaLiga's coaching programme in China, which is run in collaboration with the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE).

Fernando Sanz, LaLiga's director of international projects, did the honours of kicking off the workshop, which was also attended by Hugo Blanco, LaLiga’s sporting projects coordinator, and Zhang Le, the sports manager at LaLiga's Beijing office.

Sanz voiced his satisfaction about the project, which is part of the drive to raise LaLiga's profile in China, and described himself as "proud" of the "quality of the Spanish coaching system, which is borne out by Spanish football's successful results." "This programme is another step in the right direction for LaLiga's internationalisation strategy," he went on.

With football burgeoning in China, aided by the massive investment and countless improvements being made by the Chinese government, "These projects are key for sharing knowledge, promoting the sport and boosting LaLiga's standing in the huge Asian market," noted Sanz.

The coaching programme in China sees LaLiga team up with the CEAIE and another local partner, Charm. The goals of this induction workshop included getting this large team of professionals better acquainted with one another and the programme, as well as establishing a coordinated methodology to be used in their training sessions over the course of the 10 months that they will spend teaching football at Chinese football schools. Another extremely important aspect was to familiarise the coaches with Chinese culture and the substantial differences compared to Spain, and to lay out the communication protocol, which is vital for extensive schemes of this nature.

A total of 40 Spanish coaches featured in the first edition of this project, which was a resounding success. Indeed, the Chinese supervisors of the programme were so thrilled with how well it went that they decided to increase the number of coaches involved to 51 this time round.

The participating coaches will soon be travelling to their respective destinations in China, which include Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as the Gansu and Hebei provinces. Once they have settled in, they will be looking to live up to the standards set last year and to further the development of football in the Asian country.