Leaders Development Institute (LDI)

Leaders Development Institute (LDI) is a government institute for sport education affiliated with the Ministry of Sport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its headquarters is located in the capital, Riyadh.

The LDI was established to build and enhance the athletic capabilities of professionals, administrators, and leaders in the sport sector. It aims to develop these skills by offering training and development programs for promising talents and professionals, with the goal of achieving national and regional sport accomplishments. This initiative contributes to positioning Saudi Arabia among the world's leading nations in the field of sport.

The LDI offers several programs that support and achieve its intended objectives, including the Saudi Register of Exercise Professionals service (Saudi Reps). This initiative is part of the Quality of Life Program, one of the programs under Saudi Vision 2030. The program enables individuals to apply for a professional fitness trainer license, which is valid for one year.

The institute offered 250 diverse courses across all sport fields in 2021, held in twenty-three cities covering all provinces of Saudi Arabia. The total number of beneficiaries reached 8,808 members, who received support from the institute through full sponsorship and training in various skills required in the sport job market, including 6,067 males and 2,741 females. The institute also offers accredited technical programs aligned with modern global standards to qualify sport professionals in Saudi Arabia and train leaders. This is facilitated through the Sport Training and Education Platform, which provides various programs across multiple training tracks. According to the institute’s statistics, the number of beneficiaries from its 176 training programs has reached 23,299.

LDI oversees the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Award for Sports Research, one of the initiatives under the Quality of Life Program. The award aims to support and fund global sport research projects related to Saudi Arabia by providing financial support for academic work that contributes to developing new fundamental sport knowledge or research based on existing knowledge that can continuously influence sport thinking.

The award provides grants ranging from USD80,000 to USD120,000 to fund each research project, with a total grant amount of USD1 million.

LDI organized the Saudi Leaders Cup for Youth Football, with its first edition launched in 2020. In the same year, the institute established the Saudi Sport Professionals Network, signed a memorandum of cooperation with Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Hospital for Sport Medicine to establish the Saudi Academy for Sport Medicine, and founded the National Center for Sport Research and Studies. Additionally, it signed a partnership agreement to serve as a sport consultant for NEOM’s sport projects.

LDI has partnerships with several international sport institutions and academies, including the Johan Cruyff Institute, Real Madrid Graduate School, Harvard Corporate Learning, the George Washington University, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the French Football Federation, the Royal Netherlands Football Association, and the Japan Football Association.