Ibadan, being one of the largest cities in Nigeria, hosted a very special LaLiga event on Saturday, October 28, 2023; a viewing party for arguably the biggest club football game in the world, El Clasico.
The event which was held at the Conference Centre of Lead City University, in Ibadan had fans, journalists, Celebrities, members of the private university, and ex-Nigerian midfielder and LaLiga Ambassador, Mutiu Adepoju in attendance.
Speaking at the event, the LaLiga Country Manager for Ghana and Nigeria, Desmond Chiji expressed the decision of the body to bring the Viewing Party to Ibadan for the first time.
“We feel that El Clasico is a big event and our idea is to take it to different parts of Nigeria. So that is why we are here to spread the love and to reach the other parts of Nigeria; we cannot be doing it only in Lagos. We have other El Clasico fans in different places, so our idea is to reach them as well and engage them in different parts of Nigeria.
“We’re looking at activations with the students which have to do with grassroots programs. We have watch parties, and tech programs with the students and there are ongoing discussions to see how we can participate in some of the tech programs that they are doing with LaLiga tech in Spain as well. So these are the programs that we are working on at the moment.
The LaLiga Country Manager then promised that more events like the Watch Party would be held more frequently in Ibadan.
“This is the first thing we’re doing in Ibadan and we feel that we are going to be back here again, as time goes on because we don’t want to be only doing the watch parties. We want to be doing different activities so this is kind of like a springboard,” Desmond concluded.
In his own remarks, LaLiga ambassador Muti Adepoju was pleased with the turnout and the experience of watching alongside the people of Ibadan.
“As always, the excitement of football and I really appreciate the students and everybody that came out to watch this game. It is always a fiesta.
Guests at the event were treated to a private viewing of El Clásico which saw Real Madrid beating Barcelona 2-1 – a game Jude Bellingham grabbed a brace to lead the Los Blancos to a comeback win.
