Football coaching legend Sir Alex Ferguson helped kick-off Glasgow’s UEFA EURO 2020 preparations at the official launch of the Host City branding in the Science Centre on the banks of the River Clyde on Tuesday.

"I was fortunate enough to play on that famous Hampden Park pitch as a young player, to watch the legendary Real Madrid side that came to Glasgow in 1960, and can look back fondly at cup final successes there as manager of Aberdeen," said Sir Alex. "I look forward to Hampden being a key part of a historic UEFA EURO 2020."

Glasgow is one of 13 cities that will play host to matches at UEFA EURO 2020 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the championship.

The Scottish Football Association, Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, Hampden Park Ltd and EventScotland are working in partnership to plan and deliver Glasgow and Scotland’s part in UEFA EURO 2020.

Stewart Regan, chief executive of the Scottish FA, said "People make Glasgow and Glasgow will make EURO 2020. Now as a UEFA EURO 2020 host city venue, Hampden Park will welcome new heroes to Glasgow and help create the next chapter in the long and illustrious history of our game."

Hampden Park will play host to a Group Stage and a Round of 16 match for the championships.

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “Scotland has demonstrated its capacity as the perfect stage for events on numerous magnificent occasions in recent years, and hosting these crucial UEFA EURO 2020 matches will build upon our sterling reputation as a world-leading host nation.

“We are delighted Hampden Park is set to play such a pivotal role during this landmark tournament, and look forward to further footballing history being made here in Scotland in 2020.”

Glasgow joins London, Rome, Baku and Bucharest in having revealed their host city logos, and ceremonies are scheduled to take place in the remaining cities – Amsterdam, Bilbao, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Munich and St Petersburg – in the weeks to come.

"Glasgow enjoys a proud reputation as one of the world's great footballing cities," said Glasgow city council leader Frank McAveety. "The 'Hampden Roar' is legendary among visiting football fans from every nation. As a city, we recognise the value of football and major sporting events."

The UEFA EURO 2020 visual identity sees each of the 13 city logos feature a single iconic bridge from the city in question – acting as a symbol of connection between the various venues. Glasgow's logo incorporates the impressive Clyde Arc – affectionately known to Glaswegians as the Squinty Bridge – which spans the River Clyde.

In a message to Glasgow, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin underlined the widely-held view that UEFA EURO 2020 would be "a unique and memorable tournament in a variety of different ways."

"What better way could there be to celebrate football," he added, "than to take the EURO final tournament for one single occasion to all four corners of the continent?"

Hampden Park hosted the classic 1960 European Cup final which saw Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3, and was the setting in 2002 for a wonder goal by Zinédine Zidane that gave Madrid UEFA Champions League success in the final against Bayer Leverkusen.

"This is a unique opportunity for Glasgow and Scotland to host matches as part of this prestigious championship," said the Scottish government's secretary for culture, tourism and external affairs, Fiona Hyslop. "It is likely to have a significant economic impact, not just for Glasgow, but for Scotland as a whole."

Host City 2016 conference and exhibition takes place in Glasgow on the 21 and 22^nd November 2016, drawing together the owners, organisers, hosts and enablers of sports, business and cultural events.

Sarah Lewis, Secretary General of FIS and the Association of Winter Olympic International Federations, is speaking at the conference, the theme of which is “Creating Safe and Engaging Events”.

In this exclusive interview, she talks about how Host City can help to create safe and engaging event experiences in a competitive world.

Host City: What do you see as the most important issues facing the events industry today and why?

Sarah Lewis: Guaranteeing a safe event is becoming increasingly complex and yet something every organiser must ensure, regardless of the costs and logistics.

The market has become so competitive to gain media attention and fan support with such a wide array of different events on offer for consumers to choose from.

As far as our FIS sport of Alpine and Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Freestyle Ski and Snowboard are concerned, today it is not enough for the organisers to simply stage a competition to attract visitors and fans, there must be a complete experience and this is also an excellent opportunity for sponsor engagement.

How do you think public perception of Winter Olympic Games changed since Sochi 2014 and what are your expectations of the future for the Games?

Leading into the Sochi 2014 Games many of the headlines concerned the huge expenditure that was made for construction, but the reality is that this investment was related to building logistical infrastructure for developing tourism in the area including the roads, railway and airport as well as three ski areas and many hotels.

Recently the image of Sochi 2014 suffered another blow with revelations and allegations about corruption and doping that have further damaged the perception of these Games. But the extraordinary performances of the athletes captured the public’s imagination and hearts which is the fundamental mission of the Games.

The IOC has taken many steps to address the future of the Games in a proactive manner through measures adopted in Agenda 2020 and specifically for the Winter Edition through an expert working group that has looked into adapting the model to make them more accessible for more candidates. Looking at the number of countries that are presently studying potential bids for 2026, the new model appears to be making steps in achieving this objective. 

What has been the highlight of 2016 for you so far in the event hosting world?

The two major events with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and European Football Championships have had the biggest global impact and produced many memorable sporting accomplishments.

In the winter sport world, back in February the Winter Youth Olympic Games was on a different scale, but it successfully engaged youngsters and uncovered some future champions.

The ski and snowsport world is just gearing up for the main winter season and we have many highlights ahead, led by our FIS World Championships in Alpine Skiing (St. Moritz - Switzerland), Nordic Events (Lahti - Finland), Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding (Sierra Nevada - Spain).

Before these begin in early February, the FIS World Cups will be in full swing, including Olympic Test Events in PyeongChang, Korea as part of the tours.

 

As a speaker at Host City 2016, what are your expectations of this important event – what do you hope to share and learn?

Host City provides a great platform to communicate and promote our sports and events to a knowledgeable audience, and also gain valuable information from other important events. It is particularly interesting to encounter new and different events, who we are not generally meeting up with in the Olympic Movement.

Why is it important for cities, rights holders and their partners to have the opportunity to connect at Host City 2016?

Host City offers a convergence of the various stakeholders involved in staging events and it is always helpful to learn of the challenges and opportunities from other angles of event organisation and participation.

 

What can the organisers of sports, business, culture and entertainment events learn from one another?

Transfer of knowledge is important in every area of business, but perhaps none more so than the event industry. There is so much experience among those that hosts events, and so many excellent best practices out there, that it can only benefit organisers – and ultimately those that attend the events – to provide the most compelling consumer experience possible.

Sarah Lewis, the Secretary General of FIS and the Association of Winter Olympic International Federations, is speaking at Host City 2016. Register your attendance here.

Sports Data Industry

The big reason for the fast development of the sports data industry is enabling technology, which creates opportunities to use live data during games and training. This was not possible in the past, when data was collected with papers and pencils. Videos are also used for post-match analysis.

This change is driven by three major forces:

1: Consumers

The under 30s spend significant time online daily. The age pyramid globally shows most of us belongs into this group. The same people are likely to spend the most amount of money on sports during coming years – and they are online. To attract the fast paced mobile world, the sports data must be online in real time. Sports Digitized is a must.

2: Technology development

Manual data capture has mostly led to three issues so far: inaccuracy, slow availability and lots of data being out of reach. Technology development is fast and enables new possibilities for Sports Digitized services.

3: Competition

Only those being globally recognised are making big money. One should win on continuous bases to build a recognised brand. Doing so requires knowledge of sport, players, coaching and sports development. The key word is analysis; analysis based on automatic data capture. Winning teams are constantly improving their analytics skills and equipment.

Data Driven Player Management

Data driven player management is about coaching and scouting, where traditional manoeuvers are enhanced with technology enabled analytics.

Fast developing technology gives opportunities for teams, federations and businesses to stand out. It is important to understand that there are several ways to operate with sports data and there is no single right solution. Every organisation must choose the best solutions for them.

The next big thing is to include data capture for off-field (and off-season) training as well – all in the same database as team training. Technology enabling this is already there; databases are built ready for those setting the trends. While hunting the big wins or developing the players, it is necessary to have all useful data available.

When a player enters an academy and develops further to join the main team, it would be useful to have data from training and games from the whole journey. Data capture can be started even before joining the academy. We call this data driven player management.

Coaching

Anyone who follows sports knows that gut feeling of momentum – which team has it, or did it just turn. The home team may be pushing hard but after couple of scoring opportunities missed, the game starts to slide slowly more often into the home defence zone. Something changed, we all know it, but we just not always see what it is and – boom, suddenly we are running behind.

As in sport, delivery companies must standardise their drivers’ performance. If drivers are slowly starting to slip below the company standard level of driving behaviour, it causes lost money for the company in terms of increased fuel and vehicle maintenance cost. So these companies monitor their drivers’ performance continuously in real time with intelligent tools.

Data capture and analysis enable these companies to develop their operations, ensure quality and enable better management based on facts. With the facts, management is focused on the right things carefully and quickly. Managing the fleet and drivers has become data driven.

In sports there are many studies and known facts about performance, but systems able to gather real-time data from all practices is rare. This is especially so in team sports. Teams turning their coaching into a data driven process are travelling the same path that has been done in many industries. Gather the data, analyse it in real time and coach and manage the team based on facts, not just gut feeling.

Scouting

Player scouts watch and talk to prospects and people working with them daily. They should have objective data from the players in and outside of their prospect list. They are looking for players and their performance information beyond the 200 games they see live every year.

They should have performance history with enhanced data points, not just games played with goals and assists. Most likely they will recognise players outside the original list. They should be able to reach the players they never saw, with objective data to enhance the scouting.

There are millions of talented football players globally. There are no means to reach even a small proportion of interesting players. Scouts should do everything in their power to enable teams or sponsors to finance data collection solutions globally. Supporting locals and finding the best talent for the best teams is enabled by Data Enhanced Player Scouting by AiScreen Sports Digitized.

For more information visit http://www.aiscreen.co/

[Source: IOC] The International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Coordination Commission for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 wrapped up its seventh visit well pleased with the progress of venue construction.

The Commission, led by IOC member Gunilla Lindberg, assessed every aspect of Games preparations during three days of venue visits and collaborative discussions with the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee.

The Games organisers reported that, on average, the new venues in PyeongChang and nearby Gangneung are 90 per cent complete in advance of 26 test events scheduled between this November and April 2017. PyeongChang will host the mountain events; Gangneung will host the ice sports.

“We saw first hand the progress of the construction projects,” Chair Lindberg said at a closing news conference with PyeongChang 2018 President Hee-beom Lee on Friday. “There is no doubt that the venues will be ready for the upcoming test events.”

President Lee also expressed satisfaction with the visit, calling it “a productive three days”.

He added: “With the Rio Games now behind us, it is time for PyeongChang. Based on thorough preparation, we will strive to provide the best of service to all participants and realise our goal of making the PyeongChang 2018 Games Cultural Olympics, Environmental Olympics, Olympics for Peace and Economic Olympics, and pleasantly surprise the world with our performance.”

President Lee also announced that PyeongChang 2018 will launch ticket sales in conjunction with the one-year-to-go milestone celebration in February 2017.

Representatives from all seven winter International Federations (IFs) joined the discussions in PyeongChang, which focused on 10 areas: test events, sport, venues, legacy, Games services, full stadiums, finance, accessibility, governance, and communications and engagement. The Commission and POCOG held two plenary sessions and a series of side meetings devoted to specific topics, such as athletes and National Olympic Committees; sport and IFs; and spectators.

The IFs were particularly focused on preparations for test events involving their sports. The first test event, scheduled for 23-26 November, will be the FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup. Snowboard Big Air will make its Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018.

“PyeongChang 2018 is entering the last stages of preparations,” Chair Lindberg said in her closing remarks. “My colleagues and I leave here more confident than ever that PyeongChang 2018 will deliver great Games.”

Source: IOC

Host City: What do you see as the most important issue facing major events today and why?

Prof. Dr. Ugur Erdener: Unpredictable international political situations, which result in security and economic issues, are much more in focus in the modern world. Then there is doping and match fixing – both serious issues that cannot be overlooked. Protecting clean athletes is a particular priority of mine.

How is World Archery leading the fight against doping?

As a lower risk sport our emphasis has progressively shifted towards education. However, we increased the number of in- and out-of-competition tests taking place in 2016 following two cases at the start of the year.

Both were rooted in a lack of knowledge and attributed to accidental use rather than performance-enhancing doping. These cases are very sad, as they are not intentional and are completely avoidable.

In the lead up to Rio 2016, World Archery actively targeted Russian athletes for doping control, which – in the end – allowed us to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were not implicated in any doping activities. That allowed them to compete in Rio at the Olympic Games. I believe that we had to protect clean athletes' rights for participating in the Rio Games.

What was the highlight of Rio 2016 for you?

The archery competition at the Olympic Games in Rio was great success. Our broadcast hit record numbers in Germany, France and Korea, and received excellent viewing figures in the USA and other major markets.

The quality of the competition on the field of play was excellent, featured athletes from 56 countries, and we ended with medals going to four of the five continents.

What for you will be the greatest legacy of Rio 2016?

Seven years ago, Brazil did not have a fully-formed archery team. Now, the nation has several professional archery athletes, and a good coaching and judging structure. If progress continues, Brazil will soon be challenging for medals.

World Archery substantially increased its worldwide exposure across all kinds of media. There was a 52 per cent rise in the number of Facebook fans during the Games period.

In general, we can say there is a huge transformation in the city, a big legacy related to many high level sports facilities – and of course their management and maintenance will be important going forwards.

As a speaker at Host City 2016, what are your expectations of this important event – what do you hope to share and learn?

Host cities are critical partners in the success of any event. As a sport federation, we are constantly working to see how to better exchange expectations and expertise with our host cities, to ensure our events are a win for both parties.

Hopefully, this event promotes and nurtures this positive collaboration.

Why is it important for cities and rights holders of sports, business and cultural events to have the opportunity to connect at Host City 2016?

Successful events only take place when stakeholders truly collaborate.

Not only is it important for sports – or event rights holders – and cities to find the correct fits, for both parties, but be able to define common objectives that allow them to work together to deliver results for both parties in a true partnership.

Prof. Dr. Ugur Erdener is delivering a keynote address at Host City 2016, the largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events. For more information visit http://www.hostcity.com/events/host-city-2016

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura on Monday acknowledged that FIFA is a damaged brand that it has not focused enough on grass roots or women’s football, but insisted that the new leadership will be stronger on discrimination, despite the closure of the anti-racism task force.

Samoura joined FIFA from the United Nations in June. “There were many surprises, good and bad,” she said at Soccerex Global Convention, citing FIFA’s “incredibly committed and highly educated staff” as a positive revelation.

“On the bad side, there were some habits that needed changing. There are some cultural behaviours that we have already started acting on, for example: not really focussing on the development of football at the grass roots level; putting women’s football at the centre of our core business.

“Through the FIFA Forward programme we are really trying to prioritise those two things.”

She began her first major public speech as FIFA Secretary General by admitting she was “new to the administration side of football,” and that attending such events will be important for her in “establishing relationships”.

“I bring another perspective derived from 25 years in the UN system, mostly in crisis and complex emergency situations,” she said.

“In the midst of turmoil, gunfire and confrontation, the only time people would stop warfare was when it was raining or when there was a football game – including during Ramadan and Christmas.

But despite this power, football is still not universally accessible, she said.

“This has given me a desire for an even bigger women’s game and for women to play a greater role in administration. Men and women, young and old, well off and not so well off, have a role in the game.”

“Stronger on discrimination”

FIFA has been widely criticised for closing down its anti-racism task force, with Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, President of the Jordanian Football Association calling the move "incredibly worrying".

Pressure group Kick it Out said in a statement “This comes at a time when there is clear evidence that discrimination, prejudice and hate are on the rise in developed societies, particularly in Europe but also in different forms across the world.”

Samoura’s speech at Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester followed a welcome address from Andrew Burnham, the frontrunner to become the first Mayor of Greater Manchester, in which he challenged her justify the closure of the anti-racism task force.

“It had a very specific mandate, which it has fully fulfilled” Samoura responded. “Its recommendations have now turned into a programme and a strong one.”

Asked by host David Davies if the problem is one of perception, she replied “We can live with perception, but what I can tell you that we are taking very seriously our role as the governing body to fight discrimination.

“As an example, we have a monitoring tool and we act when this comes to bullying and facing strange and extreme behaviours in the stadiums.

“We have several cases of disciplinary measures against several clubs and teams which have been accused, and based on solid legal grounding we have taken them through this disciplinary committee, which has taken very strong sanction against them.”

Despite the closure of the task force, she said “the new leadership will be stronger, not only on racism but any kind of discrimination – including any violation of human rights.

“We need to be firm. The zero tolerance policy is at the top of the new FIFA administration’s agenda.”

“Reputational damage”

Assuring stakeholders of the integrity of the organisation will be crucial to its continued success under the leadership of new president Gianni Infantino.

“It’s clear to me that fans and our member associations have all great expectations for FIFA,” said Samoura. “They are counting on Infantino to fundamentally change the way we do business.”

She cited the creation a Chief Compliance Officer position within FIFA, as “an example that is now being replicated by all the confederations.”

The development of the game at grass roots level will be driven by the new FIFA Forward programme, which consists of investments via member associations.

“The goal of FIFA Forward is to have a high impact programme with broader participation, better teams and leagues and a more attractive sport.

“In the end, this is all about making the difference and reducing the gap between dreaming about the World Cup and participating in the World Cup.”

Historically, investments intended for grass roots development have not always reached their intended recipients.

“We really want to put in place a monitoring and controlling tool, because the Forward programme is about a lot of money to national associations. It’s about US$5m – for clubs in England that’s nothing, but where I come from that’s a lot of money and we need to ensure that those resources are really well channelled,” the Senegalese diplomat said.

“I had a very comfortable position at the UN. I was convinced by Infantino that it is time for change. Yes, our brand has suffered a lot of reputational damage.

“My appearance here today is testimony to how we would like to restore trust and confidence. We have already started really working with commercial affiliates who still believe in the brand of FIFA, giving certainty that we are the partner of choice.

She insisted that the worst is over for FIFA, despite ongoing criminal investigations into several senior figures that led the organisation.

“We are putting the past behind us.” she said. “Let’s get the investigation done while not repeating the mistakes of the past.”

“We want to have the best administration by recruiting the best people we can find. In terms of governance and accountability, we have to reach the highest standard.

“I am ready to take these challenges. I count on everyone’s support to make the FIFA mission a successful one.”

Host City 2016: Two months to go and CGF, Red Bull, Feld (Disney) and European Commission join as speakers

With two months to go until Host City 2016, a new wave of international event brands has joined an already impressive line-up of speakers.

The largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events will open on 21 November with a Keynote Address by Sir Craig Reedie CBE, President, World Anti-Doping Agency.

David Grevemberg OBE, CEO, Commonwealth Games Federation makes a welcome return to Host City to speak on “Transformations in Multi-City and Multi-Sports Events”.

Erich Wolf, Managing Director, Red Bull Air Race and Claire Ballard, Regional Marketing Manager, Feld Entertainment (Disney Live) will join Wang Dong, Vice President, Alisports in a panel on “Building Sports and Entertainment Brands; China’s Investment Strategy”.

Also recently confirmed to speak at Host City 2016 are Bridget McConnell CBE, Chief Executive, Glasgow Life; Yves Le Lostecque, Head of Sport Unit at the European Commission and Risto Nieminen, President, Finnish Olympic Committee.

These new speakers join a star-studded cast that includes city leaders from New Zealand, Odense, Rotterdam and Paris, as well as: Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events, Visit Scotland; Ugur Erdener, Vice President, IOC; Dimitri Kerkentzes, deputy Secretary General, BIE (World Expos); Simon Clegg, Chief Operating Officer, World Expo Dubai 2020; Michel D’Hooghe, FIFA Council Member and Chairman of the Medical Committee, FIFA; Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy CEO, Messe Munich; Sooad Islam, Associate, Populous; John Langford, Vice President and General Manager, The O2, AEG Facilities and more international experts.

Host City 2016 is firmly established as the largest meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events. View the full speaker line-up on the Host City website.

Host City 2016 is an event that you don't want to miss! Get your pass today to attend the leading meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events in Glasgow on 21-22 November. Register online

A very limited number of speaking opportunities remain. For opportunities please contact Ben Avison on +44 (0) 7876 682072 or ben.avison@hostcity.net

[SOURCE: IPC Academy / WoAS] The second and final day at the 2016 IPC Academy Inclusion Summit (15-16 September) is now underway in Rio de Janeiro with the event turning its attention away from understanding inclusion through policy setting and good leadership towards the theme of ‘Delivering Inclusion Operations, how inclusion has been applied’.

Addressing the Inclusion Summit audience, Shanthi Flynn, Chief HR Officer, Adecco Group (Partner of the Inclusion Summit) covered the issues of inclusion in the workplace, and how Paralympic athletes can achieve life-long success on and off the field of play. Flynn discussed the IPC Athlete Career Programme, which helps athletes through education, career coaching and job placement and boosts diversity in the workplace.

“There are more than one billion people with an impairment in the world - 15%-20% of the global population,” she says. “Unfortunately people with impairments face prejudice, discrimination and limited accessibility in the workplace.”

She considers that sport events, such as the Paralympic Games, have the power to drive societal change and believes inclusiveness is about respecting and valuing differences.

“It’s about changing perceptions and understanding that conscious and unconscious bias are barriers to being an effective workplace,” Flynn says.

“From there, it’s a short step to see that inclusiveness can help companies be more innovative, engaging and competitive. Watching Paralympians in action is truly inspiring. It is clear that they have key skills and attributes that employers seek and need: they are highly driven, focused on success and team players who overcome barriers every day. Why wouldn't you employ individuals with this profile?”

Over 200 people from a wide variety of Organising Committees and Candidate Cities of Olympics and Paralympics Games, International Federations, government bodies, suppliers to the major events and educational institutions have been listening to the insights of a wide variety of global speakers over the last two days including Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC); Andrew Parsons, Vice President of the IPC & President of the Brazil National Paralympic Committee; Carlos Nuzman, Chairman, Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games; Madame Zhang Haidi, Executive President, Beijing 2022 and President, NPC China; and Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Disability Advisor of the World Bank.

A must-attend IPC Academy Campus Cocktail Function, hosted at British House and sponsored by the UK’s Department for International Trade, will bring proceedings to a close on 16 September and allow attendees to network with all participants of the Campus, which also includes an IPC Observers’ Programme and Games Experience Programme.

About IPC Academy Campus and the Inclusion Summit

Standing alongside but distinct from the IPC Academy Observers’ Programme, the Inclusion Summit provides the ultimate forum to bring together business leaders, governments and the Paralympic Movement. Together they are discussing inclusion and accessibility, their impact on society, and how the Paralympic Games have developed into the world’s number one sporting event for driving social inclusion.

Delivered by the IPC Academy - the educational division created in 2009 as a partnership between the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the World Academy of Sport (WAoS) – the 2016 IPC Academy Campus (4-17 September) is a unique event-based learning initiative that gives stakeholders of major sports events the chance to learn from their peers during the Paralympic Games. The IPC Academy Campus features an Observers’ Programme, Games Experience Programme (GEP), Inclusion Summit and a Closing IPC Academy Cocktail Function, hosted at British House.   

Its Event Partners include the Adecco Group and the UK’s Department for International Trade. Its Media Partners are Sportcal (Intelligence Partner), Major Events International (Digest Partner), Around the Rings (Online Partner), Host City (Magazine Partner) and AXS Chat (Social Media Partner).

For further information about the the IPC Academy Campus, please visit www.ipcacademycampus.com or contact Claire Bennett, Project Coordinator, World Academy of Sport cbennett@worldacademysport.com.

[Source: The World Anti-Doping Agency] WADA confirms that a Russian cyber espionage group operator by the name of Tsar Team (APT28), also known as Fancy Bear, illegally gained access to WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) database via an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-created account for the Rio 2016 Games. The group accessed athlete data, including confidential medical data – such as Therapeutic Use Exemptions delivered by International Sports Federations (IFs) and National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) – related to the Rio Games; and, subsequently released some of the data in the public domain, accompanied by the threat that they will release more.

While it is an evolving situation, at present, we believe that access to ADAMS was obtained through spear phishing of email accounts; whereby, ADAMS passwords were obtained enabling access to ADAMS account information confined to the Rio 2016 Games. At present, we have no reason to believe that other ADAMS data has been compromised.

“WADA deeply regrets this situation and is very conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential information has been divulged through this criminal act,” said Olivier Niggli, Director General, WADA. “We are reaching out to stakeholders, such as the IOC, IFs and NADOs, regarding the specific athletes impacted,” he continued.

“WADA condemns these ongoing cyber-attacks that are being carried out in an attempt to undermine WADA and the global anti-doping system,” said Niggli. “WADA has been informed by law enforcement authorities that these attacks are originating out of Russia,” he continued.

Let it be known that these criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russia further to the outcomes of the Agency’s independent McLaren Investigation Report,” Niggli continued.

WADA is taking this attack very seriously. The Agency extended its investigation with the relevant law enforcement authorities; is conducting internal and external security vulnerability checks; and, is taking the necessary measures to ensure that stakeholders securely manage ADAMS passwords and its usage.

This attack comes on the heels of the early August incident,; whereby Yuliya Stepanova’s password for ADAMS was illegally obtained, which allowed a perpetrator to access her account on ADAMS. Ms. Stepanova was the key whistleblower for WADA’s Independent Pound Commission that exposed widespread doping in Russian athletics. 

[SOURCE: WADA]

Host City: How pleased are you with how transport plans were delivered during the 2016 UEFA European Championship?

‎Stefano Manelli: The UEFA EURO 2016 was a real public transport success. The use of public transport to get to stadiums was even higher than during previous editions, with more than 60 per cent of spectators using public transport, even when the stadium was in the outskirts.

Trains (both regional and high speed) were used by 1.5 million spectators, of which many were international. These are very good figures that are testament to the work conducted over the last three years.

I am satisfied with the working relationships with the local and national authorities, which took more than two years to be fully established.

At the national level, we had a tight cooperation with the railway company SNCF, national partner of the event, in order to define a specific Euro railway time schedule: the efforts made were crucial to provide the necessary ease to the spectators’ flows moving between the host cities. A total of 950 TGV trains were identified as “Euro trains”, including special night TGVs after matches.

We need to put the UEFA EURO 2016 in the very challenging security context, which required increasing the level of attention around the venues, fan zones and stadium in particular. In this context, I am satisfied of the overall transport and mobility planning and operations.

The only regret was the fact that we could not implement, contrary to the past two editions, free transport for ticket holders (combi-ticket): it was not part of the original engagements of the bid and we could not achieve a uniform solution among the 10 host cities. In the end, all cities proposed individual solutions to spectators with a limited impact on operations. 

Host City: Did any of the host cities pose particular challenges?

Stefano Manelli: UEFA EURO 2016 was the first 24-team European Tournament; this was the first considerable difference from the past. Ten instead of eight host cities were needed and 51 matches instead of 31, for 2.5 million spectators.

Even in a big European country like France, the level of equipment, size and experience in hosting events is not the same among all cities. Transport demand forecast was extremely challenging, for many reasons related to the size of the event. We observed less pressure on airports than in the past editions, probably as France is one of the most touristic countries in the world and offers multimodal transport opportunities.

The UEFA EURO is one event, even if it takes place in 10 different cities. The challenges were in the capability to deploy the necessary resources within each host city and to ensure a uniform approach to planning and delivering the “product”, the event. This required a very articulated coordination, which took some time to establish, but this worked very well along the whole preparation and tournament operations.

The amount of external stakeholders and private or public companies involved into the planning and operational phases was very important: in France, transport governance is decentralised and the organiser had to deal with each individually.

All activities aimed to provide a common working framework for each host city (tools, timelines etc.) and to oversee the development of transport plans and measures that were as uniform as possible, in respect of sustainability goals among others.

The support from the national authorities such as Ministry of Transport, Civil Aviation Authority and DIGES (the department of the ministry of sport in charge of integrating and activating ministerial activities around major sports events) was very important for the exchange of information and the dissemination to local level. For instance, as each participating team has an obligation to remain in the host country for the whole duration of its participation, various smaller airports around the country were impacted, where a need for additional air traffic and air safety and security conditions had to be met, requiring additional work.

Host City: What has the planning for the UEFA European Championships taught that will inform the work on Paris’ bid for the Olympic Games in 2024?

Stefano Manelli: It is certain that the UEFA EURO 2016 was a highly valuable experience and a great test both in terms of planning and operations. The good practices will be capitalised on, while the less good have already been analysed in order to improve in the future as a part of the debrief process.

France is a country with a very solid transport (and public transport) knowledge. Paris in particular has one of the first, most dense and developed public transport networks in the world. These are an excellent base already and the involvement of all relevant bodies into the process, is a very important element for the development of a robust transport plan.

Having said that, the two events are rather different and the solutions which can be implemented for a one-month multisport event in one big city are not comparable to those which could be afforded for a four to seven non-continuous days event in ten various sized cities.

There are multiple differences between UEFA EURO and a summer Olympic Games, which have a series of impacts on the transport. The overall size of UEFA EURO is more comparable to the Winter Olympic Games; the summer Olympic Games are potentially two to four times bigger.