LaLiga have ended their consultancy and football development project with the Iraqi Football Association. The partnership launched in 2023 and drew to a close once the original contract expired, following a round of negotiations in which LaLiga tabled a set of alternatives designed to build a fresh framework for continued cooperation.
A project backed at the highest levels
Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, said: "Iraq has one of the most passionate and committed football fan bases in the world, and this enthusiasm has been a constant source of inspiration for our team throughout these three years. Everything we have built together represents a legacy for Iraqi football. I am convinced that the foundations we have laid are solid, and I am confident that those now responsible for them will know how to preserve them and work to develop them."
Adnan Dirjal, then president of the Iraqi Football Association, oversaw the launch of the agreement in 2023. LaLiga assigned a permanent team to work on the ground in Baghdad from day one, backed by hundreds of specialists at its Madrid headquarters and its international offices.
Tebas himself drove the project from the start, personally tracking its progress and visiting Iraq on numerous occasions.
Key milestones: business development and professional competitions
• A comprehensive reorganisation of the first and second division leagues, with the participation of 20 teams and the staging of 380 matches, alongside the introduction of new play-off systems to determine promotion, survival and relegation, which contributed to enhancing competitiveness and professionalism, with a clearer definition of roles and responsibilities within the Iraqi Football Association and the competition structures.
• The application of a conditional asymmetric calendar, alongside a gradual strategy developed since 2023, with the aim of aligning the season's start and end dates with the major European leagues. The work carried out during the summer of 2026 was decisive in ensuring the new season launched on sound foundations, while accommodating the requirements of the Iraq Cup, the new Iraqi Super Cup, national team commitments, and clubs' participation in continental competitions.
• The implementation of the first phase of the financial control system for clubs, including financial regulations and training programmes in Iraq and Spain, and the establishment of a licensing committee and an appeals committee.
• The introduction of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology for the first time in the history of Iraqi football.
• A 6.5-fold increase in the value of audiovisual rights, with more than 20 million digital viewers recorded during the 2025-2026 season, at an average of 112,000 views per match.
• The signing of an agreement with Adidas to be the official supplier of balls, alongside the implementation of the first professional model for activating and measuring sponsorship in the competition's history.
• Growth of the competition's digital ecosystem by 39.6%, and by 81.7% when WhatsApp is included, reaching 474,600 followers. The combined total of followers of the twenty clubs reached 6.29 million, with all clubs recording positive growth rates.
• The organisation of 20 workshops, the training of more than 500 specialists from 40 clubs, and the delivery of more than 200 training hours, including three immersion programmes at LaLiga's headquarters in the Spanish capital, Madrid. The programmes covered all areas of the project, including business development and sporting development.
Key milestones: sporting development and youth football, "the Dream Project"
• The establishment of the youth league system in Iraq, which expanded from 66 teams in the 2023-2024 season to 174 teams, 1,608 matches and 4,070 registered players in the 2025-2026 season, with increases exceeding 163% in the number of teams, 301% in the number of matches, and 142% in the number of players.
• For the first time, all players were registered via a digital platform, MyIFA, which included regulations to limit age manipulation. The system also accredited 856 coaches, 994 referees and 226 match observers.
• The Iraqi Football Association's talent centre in Baghdad assessed 1,424 participants from 66 institutions, and selected 96 players and 14 coaches to undergo a data-based individual follow-up process.
• LaLiga drew up a three-year strategic plan for the development of the Iraqi Football Association, which was presented to the International Football Federation (FIFA) and received FIFA's approval. This accreditation helped enable the Iraqi Football Association to join FIFA's Talent Development Scheme (TDS) and to move from the "development" category to the "aspiration" category, and to raise the value of the funding allocated to it from zero to 250,000 US dollars.
Flexibility in efforts to continue the partnership
The original contract ended in April 2026. While the Iraqi Football Association completed its electoral process, LaLiga kept its team and its work running in Baghdad.
Once the new leadership took up its duties, the Iraqi Football Association asked LaLiga to keep its team in Iraq for a further three months to run alongside negotiations over a new agreement. LaLiga agreed and carried on its work there.
LaLiga showed plenty of flexibility and commitment throughout this period, putting forward several technical and contractual options. It also accepted the Iraqi Football Association's decision to drop "the Dream Project" and, at the association's request, added a new area of work covering refereeing.
Drawn up in cooperation with the Technical Committee of Referees in Spain (CTA), the proposal included the appointment of a lead expert to work permanently on the ground, plus direct support from prominent international refereeing figures.
It went further still. The refereeing representatives of the Iraqi Football Association would have been able to attend the weekly internal review sessions of the Technical Committee of Referees, an unprecedented opportunity in international refereeing.
The two sides never reached a new agreement, despite the wide range of alternatives on the table.
LaLiga insist they remain ready to work with Iraqi football in the future, and they thank the Iraqi officials, clubs, coaches, referees and fans for their cooperation over the past three years.
The systems put in place, the personnel trained and the knowledge transferred form a strong foundation on which Iraqi football can build to continue its journey of development.
LaLiga will keep up their commitment to developing football on the international stage. The organisation is currently involved in numerous consultancy projects across a diverse range of areas, including sporting development, the professionalisation of leagues and clubs, audiovisual production, and academies and youth development, applying the same standards of excellence, professionalism and commitment that defined its work in Iraq.