A new legion of Béticos are raising their voices and showcasing their talents in Zimbabwe as LaLiga’s Real Betis plant their seeds in Southern Africa with the launch and growth of the Betis Academy.
The high-flying LaLiga Santander club have just opened the first Betis football school on the African continent in Harare as the club looks to broaden its reach across the globe.
And football fans in Zimbabwe will get to cheer on their newfound heroes in Seville’s passionate ‘El Gran Derbi’ when LaLiga hosts a watch party in Harare on Sunday 27 February for Betis’ short trip across town to face their city archrivals FC Sevilla.
The Seville derby is known as LaLiga’s “hottest game”, given the passionate atmosphere and the fact that the sweltering city of Seville is Spain’s hottest city and one of the hottest in Europe.
Betis have had a fantastic LaLiga season to date to surge into the UEFA Champions League places and to challenge Sevilla and Real Madrid at the top of the table.
And LaLiga, the Betis Academy and the Spanish Embassy in Harare are giving some of Zimbabwe’s most fanatical football fans the chance to be a part of the intensity of this fixture with the watch party at the Spanish Ambassador’s residence in Harare.
The watch party will give fans in Harare a great opportunity to get behind their newfound heroes in green and white and LaLiga is offering fans the chance to be part of this exclusive and exciting event.
“The launch of the Betis Academy is a fantastic milestone for LaLiga and its clubs in Southern Africa and will give many young footballers and all Zimbabweans the chance to learn more about and associate closely with Real Betis. The watch party will also be a great chance for passionate Harare football fans to experience the ‘El Gran Derbi’ in a festive, fantastic atmosphere. It is an event we are really looking forward to as we bring LaLiga closer to African football fans,” said LaLiga Southern Africa Managing Director, Marcos Pelegrin.
LaLiga will give away two double tickets to the watch party online on a first come first served basis, so the quickest fans to register their attendance at the watch party will get the chance to be part of this special event.
Click here to grab your tickets
The event will start at 16h30 (CAT) and kick off is at 17h15 CAT.
Before the watch party, the Betis Academy will host a coaching clinic for local Zimbabwean footballers.
"It's an exciting time for the Betis Academy, as this match is one of the most important ones every season for the club. Joining forces with the Spanish Embassy and LaLiga to gather the Zimbabwean football community and watch it together makes this an even more special day. It is a fantastic moment for sports tourism and marketing Brand Zimbabwe. I look forward to more projects to come with LaLiga for our community," said Gerald Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer of the Betis Academy in Zimbabwe.
The host of the Seville derby watch party, Spanish Ambassador in Zimbabwe Santiago Gomez-Acebo, said “people to people diplomacy always brings countries together and sport is one of its best examples”.
“Through LaLiga's televised Spanish soccer matches here and through the new Betis Academy Zimbabwe in Harare, since 2020 relations between Spain and Zimbabwe have begun to grow in a new and very promising way. Besides its evident economic local benefits, we are very pleased that Spain is already helping to develop this country's football potential. Therefore, we are very much looking forward to this growing private Spanish-Zimbabwean partnership. We think it moves in the right direction to foster a closer relationship with Spain and that it will be very successful,” said Santiago Gomez-Acebo.