First ever LaLiga camps in KwaZulu-Natal

After successful LaLiga Camps in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the popular Camps will be held in KwaZulu-Natal for the first time from 27 March to 1 April 2023 at Durban’s Hoy Park.

The LaLiga Camps will give 150 promising under 10 to under 17 girls and boys footballers - and 30 local coaches - access to world-class LaLiga coaching and will be held in partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and SAFA KwaZulu-Natal.

Two Uefa Pro Licenced LaLiga coaches will conduct the camps, assisted by four local coaches. Saul Vazquez, the LaLiga Sports Projects specialist who is currently in Lusaka as part of a LaLiga strategic partnership with top Zambian club Zanaco, will head the LaLiga Camps in KwaZulu-Natal.

The LaLiga Camps will focus on giving talented young footballers from KwaZulu-Natal insight into the tactical, technical, physical, and psychological aspects needed to perform at the highest level in world football.

As part of their partnership with LaLiga, the Kwazulu-Natal Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will fund the participation of all 150 deserving young footballers from the province who will participate at the camps.

The participating footballers will be sourced from local football clubs, in close partnership with SAFA KwaZulu-Natal.

An important objective of the Camps, with its special focus on developing youth football, is to give disadvantaged youth from all over South Africa - who would not ordinarily have access to the opportunity – the chance to be coached by top LaLiga coaches.

More than 900 young players participated in different LaLiga Camps globally in 2022, in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and South Africa.

The Durban camp for young girls and boys footballers will run from Monday 27 to Friday 30 March, then on Saturday 31 March a coaching seminar will be hosted for 30 coaches from the provincial SAFA.

“After very successful camps in Johannesburg and Cape Town, we are delighted to be bringing the LaLiga Camps to KwaZulu-Natal for the very first time. There is a rich history of passion for the game and a culture of footballing excellence in KwaZulu-Natal and we are very happy to be able to share the LaLiga philosophy and coaching methods with talented young girls and boys footballers from the province. We would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport, Arts and Culture for partnering with us to bring the LaLiga Camps to the province in what is the start of an exciting long-term collaboration.” said Marcos Pelegrin, LaLiga’s Southern Africa Managing Director.

KZN MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Amanda Bani-Mapena, also expressed excitement at the implementation of the KwaZulu-Natal edition of the LaLiga Camps, saying the seeds of growth that will be sowed by the camps will yield handsomely in future.

"We believe that the hosting of the LaLiga camps in the province will provide the necessary boost that South African football needs. Even more exciting is the fact that these Camps are being conducted by the best football league in the world. The development of football from grassroots level is part of the Department’s core mandate and we are honoured to partner with LaLiga in this initiative. The kids emerging from these Camps would have been imparted with