Barcelona are the current La Liga champions. Photo: EPA Barcelona are the current La Liga champions. Photo: EPA
CAPE TOWN – Spain’s La Liga is proud to be a part of this year’s AfricaCom, the continent’s largest enterprise, tech, media and telecoms festival.
It is currently under way at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The event brings together a host of major players involved in powering Africa’s digital economy.
Around 30 or so digital thought-leaders will offer their opinions and ideas on improving and growing Africa’s journey towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Delegates will discuss and debate various themes and issues important to the industry, with regard to future tech trends as well as showcasing innovative new products and services.
La Liga, one of the world’s best and biggest football leagues, has been invited to participate and share its knowledge.
It will join the African Sports panel, which will focus on how local sports can build its own profile and reach greater audiences; in this way, it can explore new opportunities for revenue and improve its commercial value in the global sports market.
La Liga will be represented at AfricaCom by its Global Delegate in South Africa, Enrique Suay. He will be part of a panel debating the topic: “Building an African sports media industry”.
“The AfricaCom is a very important event in South Africa – and La Liga is always available to share its knowledge and explain its work to a variety of audiences,” said Suay.
“This always helps to position La Liga not only as a football entity, but also as a business.
“The main message we want to send out at the conference will be the importance that La Liga gives to its digital platforms; we will explain what our strategy is, and how are we are locally implementing this strategy.”
Suay said that La Liga places a major emphasis on social media in how it informs the world at large.
They have identified the digital space as a vital tool in assisting in their marketing activities.
“La Liga’s social media presence has two main functions,” said Suay. “It includes entertaining the fans, and also informing them about the news regarding our competitions.
“This helps to communicate, and to raise awareness about La Liga, the clubs and the players, and also to engage with the fans.”
Suay admits that there are still some issues to negotiate when it comes to the use of social media.
Getting ready to go on stage for my presentation at AfricaCom...Enrique Suay from LaLiga will also be on my next panel #africacom #laliga #africa #capetown #football #digital #soccer #leagues #footy pic.twitter.com/dWZo2UUeco
— Emeka Enyadike (@EmekaEnyadike) November 14, 2018
“La Liga’s main challenge has been the difference in attention between the league competition (Friday to Monday) and the day-to-day basis,” he said.
“We have been working very hard in getting the fans’ attention during the week, in addition to the weekend, and now we want our fans to consume La Liga on a daily basis.”
Apparently, FC Barcelona will put the La Liga trophy on its shirts next season to symbolize its victory... Wow. pic.twitter.com/OCc9vhW6ZE
— Futbol Of Messi (@FutbolOfMessi) May 23, 2018
La Liga, of course, is the home of football giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, both of whom have a huge following in South Africa.
So the question is: how big is Spanish football in South Africa?
“La Liga is already one of the most watched sports competitions in South Africa, and we are working on expanding our fan base,” said Suay.
“The cost of connectivity defines the content that we can share with them, but we also see the reaction that our activities in this country have in the growth of our platforms.”
@Reinerss11