Spanish football league LaLiga moves Middle East HQ to Dubai’s DMCC

From its new office at DMCC, LaLiga is looking to engage with local football fans to understand their needs, to increase participation in the sport and raise their brand awareness.

The league has an on-the-ground presence through 11 offices in seven countries, where it works directly with local partners and competitions.

LaLiga will join over 19,000 companies at DMCC.

Feryal Ahmadi, chief operating officer, DMCC, said: “LaLiga joining DMCC is a great example of the strong international ties that we have established over the years. Our deep-rooted networks, alongside the range of world-class services and facilities, continue to attract world-leading organisations to Dubai.

“We’re also proud to be supporting an organisation that promotes health and wellbeing amongst the community, so we look forward to working with LaLiga to help them grow their operations in the MENA region.”

Maite Ventura, managing director for MENA, LaLiga, said: “Success for us is seeing more young people playing the game, whether in our academies or out at their local park. It is about creating a sustainable football culture, and we feel DMCC is the perfect place for us to achieve that.”

LaLiga was the first international football league to open an office in MENA in 2014, and has gained a solid following in the region, with over 24 million local social media followers.

The MENA region is becoming an increasingly important market for the league.

MENA’s influence on the global sports industry is set to increase over the next three to five years, with a recent PwC study predicting almost nine percent growth of its sports-business by 2026.

The Spanish league joining DMCC follows a record-breaking April, which saw 216 new businesses join the free zone – the highest recorded number for April in seven years.

Q1 was also the free zone’s best performance in seven years, with international outreach to key markets including Europe, China and India bringing new companies to Dubai.