Delegation of Chinese businesspeople awards prize for Best African Player in the Liga BBVA

On the third and final day of the visit to our country, the delegation of Chinese businesspeople enjoyed the 2014 LFP Awards Ceremony last night at the Auditorio Príncipe Felipe in Madrid. Executives from Huawei, Charm and Sockatyes (companies that sponsor the Liga de Fútbol Profesional) went on stage to award the prize for Best African Player of last season. The trophy for the Liga BBVA division went to Algerian midfielder Yacine Brahimi, who in the 2013-14 season played in the ranks of Granada CF. The player dedicated his award to his former team-mates and the whole club. "I want to dedicate this victory to my family, my daughter, my country and all of Africa", said the winner.

In the Liga Adelante, the Chinese delegation awarded the prize for Best African Player to Jean Marie Dongou, of FC Barcelona B. The young Cameroonian thanked his colleagues "for giving me the opportunity to experience what I'm experiencing". He said he was delighted with the prize and that he felt proud "to be compared to Samuel Eto'o".

The Chinese business representatives were very happy to take part "in the big celebration of Spanish football". The delegation posed on the red carpet for the press, shared impressions with the LFP chairman, Javier Tebas, and visited the "digital corner", where they discovered the exclusive La Liga applications: the Liga Virtual Arena -with real-time match data and statistics-, La Liga TV, La Quiniela, the Kit Selector and the Liga Puzzle, among others. They also took the opportunity to meet and greet all the clubs, players and managers attending the gala.

The Asian businesspeople, interested in learning more about Spanish football, asked about the system for selecting the award-winning players. A total of 26 were selected in the various categories by their colleagues. The captains of all the Liga BBVA and Liga Adelante clubs voted for the best player and the best manager, and once all the information was collected the short-list of nominees was drawn up, according to the number of votes. The managers selected the Breakthrough Players. For the Best Player in the Liga BBVA and Liga Adelante, data collected by Mediacoach was used.

The Best Goal in the Liga was chosen by users of the official LFP website by popular vote, from a selection of the 10 best goals proposed by journalists Axel Torres and Julio Maldonado "Maldini". The Best African Player and Best American Player in the two divisions, BBVA and Adelante, were also selected by popular vote among users. Finally, the Fair Play prizes were awarded by Aficiones Unidas, who assessed the cooperation between clubs and their fans and the sportsmanship of the players and teams.