The joint venture between LaLiga and Banijay Iberia, closes a deal with Little Spain to develop a fiction series set in the LaLiga universe.
LaLiga Studios, the joint venture between Banijay Iberia and LaLiga, has closed a deal with Little Spain, the production company founded by internationally renowned artist C Tangana, to develop a fiction series set in the LaLiga universe. This is a pioneering project as it is the first production with the IP of LaLiga and the official seal of approval from a competition of its size and scope.
“We are facing a unique opportunity to produce the first fiction series that can exploit at all levels the IP of LaLiga, its clubs, its talent, its stadiums, its fans, to achieve a degree of veracity rarely seen in football-related fiction,” explained Chalo Bonifacino Cooke, CEO of LaLiga Studios.
For its part, the Little Spain team has stated “the objective is to create a story set in the context of Spanish professional football and from the idiosyncrasies of the LaLiga teams, where football, culture and life converge. This project is the result of a creative collaboration with actor Josh Hutcherson, a friend and ally of Little Spain in Los Angeles. This is a milestone for Little Spain, as it allows us to tell a story located between two key points: Spain and the United States. In order to capture the essence of the football world and its lifestyle accessible to very few, the key elements will be emotion and our signature cinematic style.”
This project is also a new milestone in the strategic alliance between the company owned by LaLiga and Banijay Iberia, part of Banijay Entertainment, the content powerhouse with 130 production companies present in 21 territories, and Little Spain. Last March, both production companies created, together with LaLiga, the anthem 1voiceVSRACISM to fight against racism. This chant was played in all LaLiga EA SPORTS and LaLiga HYPERMOTION stadiums during the week of the World Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and had a great resonance, generating more than 193 million impressions and an average value of more than 9.7 million euros.
Little Spain, with a growing influence in the audiovisual and creative world, won three Gold Lions in June at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, one of the most important advertising awards in the world. There it triumphed with the music video of the anthem, that the artist C Tangana – founding partner of the production company – composed for the centenary of RC Celta, a LaLiga EA SPORTS team. A success that comes after his first leap into feature-length documentaries with Esta ambición desmedida, a piece nominated for the Goya awards in 2023 that narrates the gestation and making of the tour of C Tangana’s influential album El Madrileño.
In just one year of life, LaLiga Studios has produced for more than 100 operators, broadcasting in more than 190 countries around the world. It has also produced Límite 24H, the first programme on the closing of the summer transfer window, which announced the official last-minute signings thanks to exclusive access to LaLiga’s 7th floor and was broadcast on channels such as Movistar+, DAZN, ESPN, DirecTv and Sky TV.
Since its inception, LaLiga Studios has created content for LaLiga and its main sponsors and clubs. Also, in its desire to be a pioneer in the world of sports entertainment, LaLiga Studios recently closed a deal for the development of football related content with Hollywood production company MTP, formerly known as Mandalay Sports Media. This project is led by Mike Tollin, executive producer of the worldwide phenomenon The Last Dance, the miniseries about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls that became the most watched documentary in history on ESPN in the United States and a record-breaking hit on Netflix.
Banijay Iberia and LaLiga joined forces last year to launch LaLiga Studios, a company led by Chalo Bonifacino Cooke. The partnership with Little Spain reflects Banijay Entertainment’s commitment to grow the sports entertainment business through new partnerships, content investments and mergers and acquisitions following the recent launch of Banijay Sports.
