Aakriti Vohra Exclusive: LALIGA Delegate On Grassroots Innovation, Strategic Vision and Fan Engagement in India

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When we think about LALIGA, the names of Real Madrid and Barcelona come into mind. The top-tier Spanish football system has been one of Europe's best five leagues and has produced some amazing footballers over the last few decades.

Apart from that, LALIGA has been recently making waves in Indian football as well. Through their various programmes and grassroots development missions, the Spanish Football's apex league is making a significant and positive mark in Indian football's landscape.

MyKhel recently had the opportunity to talk with one of the key personnel at the helm, who is spearheading their various components to fruition. Aakriti Vohra, LALIGA's Global Network Delegate in India, had an extensive chat with us to showcase the vision, and motto of LALIGA to develop football in India and make the Spanish league more familiar and accessible to the Indian audience.

On LALIGA India and their Media Operation

There are like 44 delegates all across the world with around 11 offices that we cover globally from LALIGA, and we touch 60-70 countries with it, with our operations. So, coming, so that's really the essence of us going local in that perspective. And if I go into the key pillars of our strategy in India.

Firstly, if you look at today, as you would know LALIGA is broadcasted on Viacom18, on their Sports18 and Sports18 HD channels. And we are on the OTT platform, Jio Cinema, where we are available for free, it's free to air and it's available to consumers at no cost.

The LALIGA Schools - A New Abode for Grassroots and Women Football Empowerment

The LALIGA International Department on their Global Network Program, which started in late 2016, and early 2017, part of which, the inception of the India Office came along. And apart from their exposure in India, the programme has a vast vision, and one of the most important components of that is their grassroots development project LALIGA Football schools.

"We run a pan-India project called LALIGA Football Schools, which focuses on grassroots development, and through which we teach young boys and girls the LALIGA methodology or how to play football the LALIGA way," Aakriti said.

"And as part of our vision in India, we don't want to just improve our brand in the country, but it is also in our interest to proactively develop football capabilities of India. And LALIGA Football Schools gives us a very vital tool like that to do something like that.

"In Vicente Ferrer program in Anantapur, where we work with the Rural Development Trust of their sports academy. And it's a beautiful project where through our LALIGA Foundation, we support their rural football league, which has around 3,000 boys and girls. And what's fascinating is that now we've launched the first-ever fully residential girls academy in that program, in collaboration with Vicente Ferrer, where 20 girls every year get a fully paid scholarship.

It is a holistic development for them. Whether it's how to be a team player, or how to be kind and generous, and just life lessons that are so amazing that come through sport. So it's a beautiful journey. And in that program specifically, I've seen the confidence of girls enhancing multifold."

Kajal D'Souza - A Beacon of Hope

One of the biggest successes for LALIGA schools has been Kajal D'Souza. The youngster started in the LALIGA Schools and went to the U17 World Cup with the Indian Women's team. Her talent got caught and she landed a magnificent opportunity with the ESC Madrid Centre.

D'Souza got a fully paid scholarship for one year where she has honed her already great talent. She also got selected for the Indian senior team in the Turkish Women's Cup as the youngest player.

On the Cricket Connection & Rohit Sharma

India is a country having a humongous affinity to cricket. Aakriti says LALIGA curated a move to connect the two dots and thus roped in Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma as a brand ambassador of the league in India. Rohit is a Football Aficionado and a massive Real Madrid supporter. She also talks about a recent collaboration with Gujarat Titans.

"We have our first ever non-football LALIGA ambassador, which is, as you would know, Rohit Sharma, our international cricket team captain, who's not just the ambassador for LALIGA in India, but is also a passionate fan for the league, which really adds to the credibility of this partnership and association for us. And we've recently also partnered with the IPL team, Gujarat Titans, on their Junior Titans programme, where it was all about bringing the love of sport to kids," she added.

Reaching to The Supporters

"We've also done massive watch parties and screenings of LALIGA, as I was saying, that bringing the magic of LALIGA to India. So, we've done that in multiple cities over the years."

And we've touched over 50,000 fans with this initiative. So, all of it stitched together is our holistic 360-degree strategy, which we try and better improve and enhance with every coming season based on our learnings and increasing knowledge of us in the market," she said.

LALIGA has conducted many joint screenings of the El Clasico across cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi in recent times.

An Open Invitation to AIFF and other Stakeholders

The development of football in India is key, and Aakriti says it's a cordial invitation to all the biggest stakeholders to join their hands in order to enhance the landscape of Indian football. She also spoke about the recent collaboration with West Bengal government, which is an exciting and upcoming project.

"One of our key strategies in the market is to develop football in India with like-minded key stakeholders. So, we welcome the Federation of India. We welcome state governments to come join hands with us. We've signed a letter of intent with the West Bengal government as well. And we intend to develop a long-term development program in the West Bengal government."

We've seen exponential growth in grassroots development, not just in football, but in various sports. And I think with AIFF, ISL, and other stakeholders working towards making football better in the country, slowly and steadily, we can see changes are coming."