|  Register / Login

Interview with David Wright on the 2016 Soccerex Global Convention: More Chinese elements and delegates this year!

By Tingting Zhang Monday, 26 Sep 2016 00:01

The 2016 Soccerex Global Convention is coming to Manchester on Monday. As the Global Media Partner of Soccerex, Yutang Sports interviewed the Marketing Director of Soccerex, David Wright, for some insights into this year’s convention. 

After this interview, we think this year’s convention would as always provide good networking opportunities and professional insights for the industry. What is worth noting is that there are more Chinese elements and more Chinese delegates this year than ever.  

Yutang Sports: Soccerex will kick off on Monday next week. Preparation must be nearly finished. How well is everything now regarding the venue, the sale of passes, media? Could you give a brief overview of this year’s event with regard to the number of delegates, media, speakers, etc.? 

Yes, our preparations are essentially complete now – there still a few more small pieces of the puzzle to put into place but the picture is looking very good! Sales for the event have been good, particularly in the exhibition where we have surpassed our targets. We are on track to go past last year’s delegate total and we expect around 3000 senior industry figures across the three days. The event will provide them with 33hrs of networking opportunities and over 25hrs of expert content delivered by over 100 guest speakers from around the world. 

Yutang Sports: What high-level officials and entrepreneurs will attend this Global Convention? What important football clubs will be there? 

We are delighted to welcome the new FIFA Secretary General, Fatma Samoura for her first industry event appearance – her opening address on the new path for FIFA will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the first day, which will also include the inaugural FIFA Diversity Award where Fatma where share the stage with FIFA Diversity jury members, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Clarence Seedorf. 

All Premier League clubs will have senior figures at the event, with former England International hosting a Premier League takeover of our new feature, the Love Football Zone, where they will be showcasing their different community initiatives in the UK and around the world.

Representatives from Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Leicester City,  Orlando City, Bournemouth, Inter Milan, PAV and Valencia will all be speaking and through institutional partnerships with LaLiga and the English Football League all their member clubs will be attending official meetings at the Convention.

From the business world there will be senior commercial figures representation brands such as Chevrolet, Santander, William Hill and Vauxhall and as well as digital experts from Samsung, NFL, UFC, Facebook and Twitter.

Yutang Sports: This year’s conference covers a great variety of topics in the world of football. What are the main areas that would be discussed? Are there some prevailing theme(s) for the 2016 Soccerex Global Convention? What are they (it)? 

As always we try to ensure the conference covers the four key business areas of the football industry – the stadia sector, sports performance, commercial activities – including sponsorship and broadcasting – and football finance and regulation. One special area of focus for this year are the importance of technology in fan engagement with session looking at social media, data, football gaming and virtual reality. Another is diversity in sport, with FIFA hosting the Diversity Awards and the Love Football Zone hosting an afternoon dedicated to the women’s game.

Yutang Sports: How is the 2016 Global Convention going to provide excellent networking opportunities for delegates? 

Soccerex events are structured to provide best in class networking opportunities and this year our usual features such as the networking café, our array of networking evenings and our events app with built in networking tool will be supported by two new features. The Academy, our business focused conference facility, will have a dedicated networking lounge attached to it so that delegates can benefit from sector themed networking breaks following immediately after groups of sector specific content. We are also introducing a networking brunch on the Wednesday morning that will enable delegates to connect ahead of the morning’s programme of club focused conference sessions.  

Yutang Sports: Are there stronger Chinese elements in this year’s Soccerex Global Convention? What are they? Would there be more Chinese delegates this year than before? 

China’s emergence as a major player in the global football market place will be reflected in this year’s Convention with a dedicated panel featuring senior figures from the Chinese FA, Alisports and Soccer World discussing the growing Chinese influence on world football. There will also be a presentation from Tom Byer, Head Technical Advisor to the Chinese FA and Sam Li form Sina Sports will be part of a panel looking at eth future of broadcasting. Finally, there will be a delegation of Chinese business figures hosted by the UK Department for International Investment. As a result this year’s Global Convention will have a higher number of Chinese companies attending than ever before! 

The speakers on the China round table (credit: Soccerex)

Yutang Sports: As the best football business convention in the west and a convention brand with a long history, the relationship between Soccerex and China is obviously very attracting. An unavoidable question is when would Soccerex come to China? Where? 

China is obviously on our radar and high priority for us. We have had substantial interest from a number of local government and corporate entities in bringing our platform to China, which we are currently assessing as it is vital that we find a partner that matches the needs and expectations of both us and the local market. It is a case of when not if though, so watch this space!

Yutang Sports: The Manchester Convention Complex has been the venue of Global Convention for many years. Would following GC events continue to be held at this venue and in Manchester? Where would Soccerex events go next?

We are contracted to hold the Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester until 2017 and we have agreements in place to hosts events in Accra, Ghana and Doha, Qatar over the coming months. We receive regular approaches from cities around the world and are in advanced discussions with a number of them for events next year where we expect to be back in the Americas and the Far East.

Yutang Sports: Soccerex is already the best football business event. Do you have any short-term and long-term goals/aims in regards with the development and operation of Soccerex? 

Soccerex is fundamentally an events business and we will continue to bring our proven brand of business platforms to the world’s key football markets. We also have our industry news resource SoccerexPro and we are looking at ways we can grow the reach and commercial potential of this through digital and print channels.

Our business is based around the pillars of unrivalled networking, insight and social opportunities and the changes to cultural and business landscape brought about by technology and social media offer the chance to continue providing these pillars outside of events. The ideal would be to deliver these 365 days a year to a global audience on demand and we continue to explore ways of achieving this. 

Yutang Sports: Soccerex used to announce important news during the Global Convention. Would there be any important announcement during the 2016 Global Convention? 

You will have to wait and see!

Yutang Sports: The Soccerex Asian Forum will be held in Doha, Qata on the 5th and the 6th of December. Could you share the focus of the 2016 Asian Forum? Why would it be a must-attend event for Chinese football professionals? 

The Soccerex Asian Forum will be an exclusive networking opportunity for around 1000 industry professionals from all across Asia, offering a window to this thriving business destination. The event’s conference will be focusing on Major event delivery, Sports performance and sports marketing best practice. It will provide valuable insight and networking for those looking at staging football events in China as well as the latest expertise in academy and player development. With the great and good of football set to be in Doha, including many legends of the game, it is an event not to be missed!   

Tags: Soccerex
Comments

loading...

Join the discussion

Yutang Sports