REAL Madrid, one of the world’s richest and most successful football clubs, has expressed interest in forging ties with Jamaica, through the Spanish club’s Social Integration Sports Academies programme.

The programme, which is run by the Real Madrid Foundation, has the aim of promoting sports and sports values, and improving the lives of underprivileged youngsters by providing access to social services.

Director General of the Real Madrid Foundation, Carlos Abella, told Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who toured the club’s Madrid complex on Tuesday, that the academies’ model had been established in several Latin American countries

to benefit more than 3,000 youngsters. He said that new academies were slated to start this year in Mexico and Uruguay.

He said that the academies go well beyond promoting sports as they provided opportunities for education, vocational training, psychological assistance and medical care.

Simpson Miller commended the 10-year-old foundation on its social outreach initiatives, noting that they provided great opportunities for young people, especially those from humble beginnings.

The prime minister’s visit to Real Madrid was part of her four-city European tour, which has already taken her to London for a meeting with the Jamaican community, and Brussels for a meeting with the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Committee of Ambassadors, where she reaffirmed Jamaica’s commitment to the ACP Group.

She also met with the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.

In Spain, she met with current and prospective investors in Jamaica and received an

enthusiastic response.