Spanish football team Club Deportivo Leganés has outlined its African initiatives that will go beyond identifying and supporting talent.
In a video conference with Kenyan sports journalists on 17 August, CD Leganés representatives spoke about the club’s projects to support the grow football in the country and across the continent through its partnership with Rainbow Sports Global that will focus on the social aspects of sport.
CD Leganés president Jeff Luhnow says the club is seeking to put more focus on getting football talents from Africa, which is set to open doors for Kenyan players
The LALIGA hypermotion side has entered into an agreement with Rainbow Sports to realise this dream of getting the best talents from Kenya and Africa as a whole.
Luhnow said Africa is now the focus for the next generation of talents. He said his club will integrate more talented African players into their systems.
Luhnow said: “For us, the most important part has been and will be building relationships in Africa and pipelines for players from Africa to Europe, to Leganes, and the rest of Europe. We believe that Africa is the right place to find future football talent all over the world, and we are happy to be integrating young African talents into our system,” he said.
Rainbow Sports CEO Kingsley Pungong said they have been exposing talented Kenyan players to training in the UAE, where some have been spotted by scouts and could soon earn moves to different teams in Europe. The partnership with Leganes is set to open up another channel for Kenyan players.
Pungong said: “Kenya is one of our key countries, and we already have interests there because of our club We have historically been known for being disruptive and innovative when it comes to commercial campaigns, partnerships, activations, sponsorships, and so forth. That is what we intend to bring to Kenya.”
Rainbow Sports owns the National Super League side, Rainbow FC that earned promotion to the National Super League (Kenyan second tier) after topping the FKF Division One Zone A league last season.
Rainbow Sports Global is a leading sports enterprise with a global footprint, which has successfully positioned itself as a leading Pan-African sports entity, providing holistic management, marketing, and media solutions for football sports agencies, clubs, and talented African football players.
The conference was organised by LALIGA delegate for Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda Alvaro Abreu.
