City Sports Group and LaLiga club, Real Betis have agreed to a partnership deal to collaborate on areas such as brand exposure, talent development, exploring commercial opportunities and creating pathways for young Nigerian talents to visit Spain for further training and assessment. The collaboration was facilitated by the LaLiga office in Nigeria as part of its efforts to build bridges between the Nigerian football ecosystem and Spanish clubs.

Speaking on the partnership, Shola Opaleye, CEO of the City Sports Group said he is excited with the partnership because of the many areas of collaboration and the opportunities it opens up for the City Sports Group, its development programs as well as exciting Nigerian talent.

“We have been in talks with a few clubs but this is the perfect deal for us. I have been to Spain twice in the past few months with my team and I have to say we felt right at home in Betis and we are delighted we share the same views about what can be achieved with partnerships such as this. Their facilities are excellent and their coaching philosophy is outstanding. We are excited to work with Betis and to open this opportunity for young Nigerian talents.

We shall be holding periodic camps facilitated by their coaches, develop a training program and every year, we will send our teams for further training in Betis thereby exposing them to what life behind the scenes at the top-level looks and feels like for a week, an immersion program where they will see how football clubs and teams operate, prepare for games.”

Ramon Alarcon, Chief Business Officer of Real Betis also said that CSG are the right partners as they look to connect and engage more fans globally.

“My team has been working together with Shola and his team for the past few months and we are happy to finally reach an agreement with great potential for both parties and for Nigerian young talent. The objective of this partnership is for us to connect more with Nigerians and to share some of the knowledge we have through training camps and other programs. We are looking forward to a successful partnership and expanding our brand in Nigeria. This is just another step into our international growth and our first kind of a deal in Africa, where we think we have a lot of potential.”

City Sports Group is Nigeria’s leading sports brand. A total sports company with one of its focus areas being the identification, engagement and nurturing of sports talents.