IS FOOTBALL really worth promoting in the Philippines?
Given the immense popularity of basketball in the Philippines, as well as the rising nature of volleyball and esports, the decision to uplift the football scene remains a daunting task.
And while this may seem like a challenge, for Almudena Gomez, a LaLiga representative in the Philippines, she revealed in an interview with Spin.ph that the Philippines is a good prospect.
“I know this is a basketball country...but this is a country with a population of over 110 million people and I can tell you that we have an interesting percentage of fans in LaLiga and a bigger one interested in football, so it’s quite an interesting country and market for LaLiga to tap,” she said.
During her stay in the Philippines, she learned a lot about the Philippine football community.
The football community in the PH, according to LaLiga
“So, the Philippine football community, I would say it’s quite particular. It’s different from what we can see in neighboring countries where football is more developed like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, or Vietnam and since I arrived here early 2018...we can see now that football is the second sport, not only in consumption of TV itself but consumption of football content and that includes not only LaLiga but also the bigger picture,” she revealed.
But besides the consumption of football content, Gomez likewise saw something promising from the youth programs.
“In terms of practicing, [football] would be number one because right now there are more and more kids interested in practicing football that we could potentially see in basketball.”
And it doesn’t just end there, as there are other opportunities that are worth tapping. The Philippine Football League is slowly gaining steam since the pandemic. And then there’s the Philippine Women’s National Team that made headlines for reaching the World Cup.
“Obviously there’s the local football league that has experienced different changes but for the past two to three seasons, we have some consistency on the PFL, consistency on the clubs participating in the competition and hopefully we can see that the local league keeps growing.”
She added: “The local league has to be number one because as soon as we have a very strong local league, that would benefit the sport, and it would ultimately benefit us (LaLiga)."
The goodwill from the Filipinas will definitely have a spillover effect on the rest of the scene, said Gomez.
“Seeing that the Women’s National Team qualify for the World Cup, they won their AFF Women’s competition, so I think it’s the right moment to focus on football in the Philippines. And the football that we see in the Philippines has a lot of potential and that is why LaLiga invest in being here.”
More than just football
With LaLiga being one of the most popular sporting leagues in the world (especially with the prestige that clubs like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona offer), Almudena also pointed out that there is more to the league than just football.
The Philippines has grassroots sports programs that LaLiga could dig deep into. Kids who excel well in the local grassroots might be given the opportunity to join the LaLiga Academy, similarly to how, for example, Alex Eala joined the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain.
“Also, complimented by our new center that we have in Spain... we just opened it, it’s the ESC LaLiga NBA center in Madrid," she explained. "It’s a high-performance center with super high standard facilities and a boarding school where we have a LaLiga academy, a long-term project where kids from around the world that came from the projects that we developed across different countries.”
She added: “And that’s one of the key things we want to focus now here in the Philippines, trying to work in grassroots projects. We see a lot of stakeholders doing things in grassroots and we see a lot of potential here.”
And with the partnership between LaLiga and the NBA, this could also mean that aspiring basketball prospects in the Philippines could enhance their skills.
But besides sports, LaLiga also has a business school for those who wish to learn more on the backend side of sports. With football reaching the digital age, competing against other online entertainment offerings like Netflix and Disney+, it’s a must for LaLiga to offer specialized programs in the industry.
“On a separate note, we also have our very own LaLiga Business School. LaLiga is obviously football but we are more than football and we present ourselves as an industry not only centered on sports but also entertainment.”
She added: “A few years ago, we realized that there’s a lack of specialized talent in the sports and entertainment industry and we decided to put together our own programs, the LaLiga Business school, which offers masters degrees on sports analysis, law, and marketing.”
And we could expect more from LaLiga in the Philippines. Recently, they gave football fans in the Philippines a treat with their ElClasico Watch party held in Sparta, Mandaluyong.
Now that the pandemic restrictions are eased, perhaps more football gatherings could exist.
“We decided to do it, we started doing it a few years ago when I arrived, obviously during the pandemic, everything stopped, there was no room for live events or gatherings for more than five people so we moved all our strategy online, we do the live commentaries, pre-game shows with influencers and some media, we were focusing on online content.
“As soon as the season started, where the restrictions were eased, I was eager to organize a live event with our fans. It’s our way of being closer to our fans,” said Gomez.
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