La Liga and South African sports broadcaster SuperSport will hold a public screening of the El Clasico match between eternal rivals Real Madrid and current Spanish champions Barcelona as it continues its strategy to boost its appeal in Africa.
The match, which will be played on March 1, will be screened at Landmark Beach in the Nigerian commercial capital, Lagos, according to La Liga.
La Liga ambassadors Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon and Mutiu Adepoju of Nigeria will be in attendance.
Eto’o, regarded as one of Africa’s best-ever strikers, played for Barcelona between 2004 and 2009. At the Catalan club, he won La Liga three times, the UEFA Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup twice and the Copa Del Rey once. He also played for Real Madrid and Real Mallorca.
Adepoju, who was a midfielder, played for Real Madrid’s B side between 1989 and 1992. He also played for Racing Santander and Real Sociedad between 1992 and 2000.
Over the years, La Liga has attempted to increase its appeal in Africa, and particularly Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, where the English Premier League has a strong fan base.
In August 2016, La Liga opened an international office in Abuja, its second office in the continent after the first one in South Africa. By then, La Liga estimated that about 15 million Nigerians considered themselves fans of the Spanish league. It also estimated that 2.3 million Nigerians watched at least one game from the 2015/2016 season.
La Liga at the same time signed a five-year technical and commercial partnership with the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL). La Liga President Javier Tebas added that he hoped that La Liga teams could travel to Nigeria to play friendlies against local clubs in years to come.
In August last year, La Liga announced a partnership with Nigeria’s Higher Institution Football League (HiFL) in a bid to strengthen its commitment to developing grassroots football in Nigeria and appealing to local fans.
