The Spanish Football League, LaLiga, hosted ACLSports.com and other key Nigeria media to an exclusive briefing to restate its position as the most competitive league in the world on Thursday.
The briefing which took place at the posh Jada Sports Bar in Victoria Island, Lagos, saw YourSportsMemo present in what was the opportunity to engage at the insightful and interactive sessions on the league’s competitiveness.
With 13 games into the new LaLiga season, the current campaign is indeed shaping up to be the tightest in recent times, confirming LaLiga Santander as the most competitive of Europe’s top five divisions.
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At the moment, five teams, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Real Sociedad are separated at the top by just two points going into match week 14 this weekend.
Three different teams have also led the LaLiga table this season at different times, one of them is newly-promoted outfit, Granada CF.
Granada who also have on their payroll, Nigeria international, Ramon Azeez, have already beaten defending champions, Barca this season with Nigeria’s very own Azeez scoring in that game.
Levante UD is also another team to have gotten the better of the defending champions this season, therefore, giving a very clear idea that any team can beat just any other right now in the LaLiga right now.
Furthermore, another promoted team, CA Osasuna are knocking on the doors of European spots, added to their impressive unbeaten home record with stretches to 18 months – a total of 31 matches.
In terms of the factors behind this historic degree of competitiveness in LaLiga Santander, two of them are very vivid and stand out.
Firstly is the financial control regulation put in place in 2013 which has put to a stop the ‘boom and bust’ cycles that saw clubs fluctuate dramatically in performance with teams now able to attract international stars.
The second factor is the centralised sale of TV broadcast rights which began in 2015, which has now transformed financial realities of most LaLiga clubs following rapid growth in broadcast revenue from €600million in 2015 to €1.856bn in 2019.
Consequently, modest LaLiga club sides can now compete favourably in the transfer market, such as Real Betis who recently added to their squad French World Cup winner, Nabil Fekir from Lyon last summer.
In sum, as Real Madrid captain, Sergio Ramos said earlier this month, LaLiga is the best league in the world because big clubs ‘can’t afford to be complacent about a single game regardless of who you’re up against.’
Adding his voice on the competitiveness of the LaLiga was the league’s Delegate in Nigeria, Guillermo Perez Castello.
“We want all fans in Nigeria to keep watching and know that there are no easy matches, ” he said. “LaLiga is committed to offering unrivalled excitement and entertainment to its Nigerian fans and the world at large.”
He added that LaLiga is proud of the level of competitiveness this season because “it is important for the competition to be competitive. With teams like Granada and Sociedad fighting to be at the top, the games are getting more exciting especially with Super Eagles stars like Azeez and Samuel Chukwueze.”
In sum, the brief at Jada Sports was very insightful and ended in fanfare after ACLSports.com representative, Izuchukwu Akawor aka ‘Das’, emerged winner of the quiz organised by LaLiga.
