ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Spain’s top-flight football league held a workshop in Madrid with the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) to strengthen sport management in Iraq, focusing mainly on Financial Fair Play Regulations, for which the Spanish league is known for its strict measures.

The workshop, which was attended in person by representatives of nine Iraqi clubs and an additional ten online, saw discussions around the “key aspects of financial management, competitive sustainability, and financial control,” according to a La Liga press release issued on Thursday, describing the matters as “fundamental pillars for the development of modern and structured football.”

La Liga President Javier Tebas was quoted in the statement as saying “For us, financial fair play is an essential component; I would say it's part of the DNA of our competition.” 

“Those of us who have these types of regulations are more competitive and financially sustainable in the medium and long term. We will continue working on this type of training, which we consider very important and essential," Tebas further noted.

Spain and Iraq have previously partnered in sporting initiatives. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani in 2023 oversaw the signing of two partnership contracts between the IFA and La Liga, aiming to better organize the country’s top-flight Iraq Stars League.

“This project with the IFA is a clear example of how LALIGA is able to share and adapt its knowledge and experience to different countries around the world. Our goal is to improve the fan experience and promote the professionalization of the sports industry globally,” the Spanish league quoted Carlos Ruiz-Ocana, Head of International Special Projects at La Liga, as saying.

La Liga’s statement argued that “this system reduced clubs' outstanding debt to public authorities from more than €650 million to just €3 million, and eliminated €89 million in unpaid player debt, achieving a level of sustainability and solvency that is now an international benchmark.”

Despite the numbers cited by La Liga, the league’s strict fair play regulations have adversely affected its top teams in the past, most notably Spanish football giants FC Barcelona, who have struggled with registering players under the league’s unforgiving rules. The 28-time La Liga champions have been forced to what the club dubs financial “levers,” such as selling portions of its TV rights to stay competitive with its European counterparts.

The partnership between the two leagues comes only months after FC Barcelona announced in late May the launch of their “Hope League” initiative, a project aiming to open six community football schools in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and northeast Syria (also known as Rojava).