The LaLiga Hope Cup tournament, organized by LaLiga and its partner China Sports Futurity Investment (CSFI) in the Chinese city of Kunming, has received the prestigious “Red Card Award” for the best grassroots project last year.

LaLiga’s China Director Sergi Torrents accepted the award at an event organized by Mailman agency in Shanghai and expressed his delight at receiving the distinction which recognizes the commitment of the Spanish league to the development of Chinese football.

“This award recognizes all our work in China over the years. At LaLiga we look to create opportunities for our clubs through synergies and projects that also allow us to support the development of grassroots football across the country,” said Torrents.

The LaLiga Hope Cup, which was first held last year in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, hosted the U16 teams from FC Barcelona, ​​Atletico de Madrid, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona, ​​Valencia CF, Sevilla FC and Deportivo Alaves representing LaLiga, and Beijing Guoan, Guangzhou Evergrande, Beijing Renhe, Changchun Yatai, Hebei and Shanghai SIPG from the Chinese league.

The tournament, the first of its kind organized by LaLiga in China, was born as part of the agreement reached with CSFI and the governments of Kunming and Anning County whereby a permanent LaLiga academy – which is expected to start operating in 2021 – will be built in China.

Both the creation of the LaLiga Football Academy Kunming and the LaLiga Hope Cup are framed within the MOU signed by the parties in December 2018; a document that, among other things, also includes the employer's commitment to bring LaLiga Santander and LaLiga Legends matches to China and to promote the exchange between young teams in both countries.

At this year’s “Red Card Awards” LaLiga not only won this award ahead of projects presented by Bayern Munich, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Ajax of Amsterdam and the Wanda group but was also a finalist in the category of Best Strategy with Influencers for its Unboxing campaign.

Other winners were FC Barcelona, ​​named the number one club in digital presence in China, and iQiyi, LaLiga’s broadcaster in the country, which won the award for best sponsor of the year.