LALIGA and AENOR sign an agreement to launch a certification of excellence in football academies

LALIGA and AENOR have signed a strategic agreement for the creation and implementation of the 'Excellence in the Comprehensive Training Model for Football Academies' certification, a new exclusive seal that will recognise clubs that achieve the highest standards of quality, sustainability and comprehensive development in the training of players, with a special focus on child protection.

The agreement was signed by Javier Tebas, president of LALIGA, and Rafael García Meiro, CEO of AENOR, and represents a new step in LALIGA's commitment to professionalisation, continuous improvement and excellence in Spanish professional football youth academies.

The 'Excellence in the Comprehensive Training Model for Football Youth Academies' certification aims to support clubs in their commitment to achieving excellence in their comprehensive training model with a focus on strategic, operational and evaluation processes, which includes more than 50 indicators to be met. The aim is to achieve continuous improvement in order to contribute to the comprehensive development (human, academic and sporting) of young players.

This certification is directly linked to LALIGA's Youth Academy Optimisation and Improvement Plan, the 10-year strategic framework launched by the organisation in 2022 to promote the youth academies of clubs that are already global leaders and take the excellence of Spanish grassroots football to a new level. LALIGA has highlighted the importance of this alliance in emphasising trust throughout the value chain, from clubs to families to potential partners, by entrusting a prestigious certifying body with the accreditation of compliance with the highest standards, particularly those relating to professionals, work processes (such as control and communication) and child protection.

Eligibility for the 'Excellence in the Comprehensive Football Academy Training Model' certification will be conditional on the degree of compliance with the LALIGA Academy Plan, and in particular with the objectives set out in Phase 1, which has just been completed at the end of 2025. Thus, only those clubs that have achieved at least 80% compliance with the objectives defined in this first phase will be able to begin the certification process. These objectives include comprehensive player care, sustainable growth, talent detection and retention, and the professionalisation of the youth academy structure, among others.

The certification is based on previous successful experiences within the LALIGA ecosystem itself. CA Osasuna was a pioneering club in promoting, together with AENOR, the certification of its youth academy, Tajonar, a historic benchmark in Spanish youth football , setting an important precedent that demonstrated the value of having a training model evaluated under objective and verifiable standards.

In this way, the certification will not only serve as independent external recognition, endorsed by AENOR, but also as an incentive for continuous improvement and the consolidation of good practices in professional grassroots football.

Javier Tebas, president of LALIGA, said: "The LALIGA Youth Academy Plan is a long-term strategic commitment that has already yielded very good results. The alliance with AENOR provides the confidence of having an external certifier to recognise the enormous work being done by the clubs. This ensures that the comprehensive training of our young footballers and the arrival of youth players in professional football, both key elements of economic and sporting sustainability, are based on criteria of excellence."

Rafael García Meiro, CEO of AENOR, highlighted: "Sport is a very important part of young people's education. The certification of the Youth Academy Training Model helps to ensure that their experience is the best possible, both for those young people who will continue as professional athletes and for those who take other paths. This certification delves into all the areas that really matter to young people and their families: more than 50 indicators covering the comprehensive care of students, in human, academic and sporting terms. The way we approach sport is one of the elements that defines us as a society, and LALIGA, with its National Youth Academy Plan, is making a clear commitment to best practices."

The 9th Youth Academy Meeting marks the end of Phase 1 and the start of Phase 2

The 9th LALIGA Youth Academy Meeting, held on 14 and 15 January in Madrid, was an opportunity for reflection, assessment and strategic alignment between LALIGA and its clubs. It marked the official end of Phase 1 of the Youth Academy Optimisation and Improvement Plan, launched in 2022, and the start of Phase 2, although the objectives of the first stage will remain open for fulfilment and improvement by the clubs.

The data from Phase 1 reflects a very significant evolution in the degree of compliance with the Plan's indicators and objectives, with particular emphasis on areas relating to comprehensive player care, reflecting the clubs' efforts to improve training processes, strengthen child protection and commit to higher education and dual careers, the growth of women's youth academy structures, the improvement of infrastructure and facilities, and a decisive leap forward in technology and digitalisation.

• The average overall compliance rate (considering all groups and objectives) has risen from 46.5% in October 2022 to 71.0% in July 2025.
• Section 4: Comprehensive player care has seen the greatest overall improvement, rising from 38.3% in October 2022 to 76% in July 2025. This progress demonstrates the clubs' efforts to improve training processes, create child protection environments and strengthen their commitment to higher education and dual careers for players.
• In Section 3: Training model and transfer to competition, overall compliance has grown from 60.6% to 85.3%, with the indicator for Individualisation of the training process standing out in particular, with an increase of 29.6%. This shows the clubs' commitment to professionalising their youth academies and promoting the continuous improvement of work processes, focusing on the player, the main focus and cornerstone of the system.
• In LALIGA HYPERMOTION clubs, the progress has been particularly significant, rising from 42.7% compliance in 2022 to 64.2% in July 2025. In line with the general trend, the largest increase in this specific group has also occurred in Section 4: Comprehensive player care, which has gone from 21.1% to 70.6% (an increase of 39.5 percentage points), followed by Section 3: Training model and transfer to competition, with growth of 25.7%.
• At the start of the Youth Development Plan, only 55% of clubs had a women's structure in grassroots football. Currently, this percentage has increased to 82%, including not only the existence of teams, but also consolidated training structures.
• In the area of infrastructure, the figure has risen from 42.5% to 76.9%, reflecting a clear improvement in sports infrastructure and facilities, closely linked to the work of the Club Office and the investment plan developed in conjunction with CVC.
• In the field of technology and digitalisation, the progress has been particularly significant. At the start of the Plan, only 37.5% of clubs had the capacity to centralise and interrelate information on the progress and development of youth players. At the end of Phase 1, this percentage had risen to 73.7%, as a result of a greater commitment to digitalisation and the incorporation of new technologies applied to youth football.

Phase 2 of the LALIGA Youth Academy Plan, presented to clubs during the meeting at Atlético de Madrid's Riyadh Metropolitan Stadium, will continue the work already done, with a focus on consolidating progress, deepening models of excellence and standardising standards between clubs.

The next steps include new proposals in the areas of methodological innovation, talent development, child protection, mental health, sustainability of training models, improving the transfer of players to professional competition, and strengthening governance and evaluation systems, all in line with the criteria underpinning the new certification developed in conjunction with AENOR.