Gymnastics and Golf are to join the prestigious line up of leading sports who will stage their European Championships together in 2018 for the first time in their history, the sports’ European associations announced on Friday.

The dates of the inaugural Championships were also confirmed as the 1st to 12th August 2018.

The two new sports join Athletics, Aquatics, Cycling, Rowing and Triathlon, who have decided to come together for the first time for the European Sports Championships which will be staged in the Host Cities of Glasgow and Berlin.

 “One of the challenges this project had to face was to create a programme that could offer the best conditions for athletes to express themselves while also creating interest for the main TV networks in Europe. The result of very fruitful discussions allow me to express my satisfaction that Glasgow and Berlin will showcase one of the best events of all time,” said Paolo Barelli, President of the Ligue Européenne de Natation (European Aquatics.

“Each individual European Federation will create a fantastic programme that will maximise interest and LEN is proud to be a pioneering partner of such an ambitious project that will contribute significantly to the development of sport.”

The European Artistic Gymnastics Championships will be staged in Glasgow at the SSE Hydro while the brand new European Golf team championships will take place at Scotland’s prestigious Gleneagles course.

 “It is very exciting for Golf Europe to be invited to join some of Europe’s leading sports in the inaugural European Sports Championships, with three new European Golf Team Championships for female, male and mixed teams,” said Keith Waters, The European Tour’s Chief Operating Officer and Director of International Policy.

“This is part of our vision of encouraging all European nations to participate in golf, and it is fitting that Gleneagles will host the first staging of this event, having been the venue for last year’s Ryder Cup, when Europe memorably united through team golf.”

Berlin will host the 2018 European Athletics Championships from the 7th to 12th August, with Glasgow hosting the six other European Championships over the 12 days.

“As one of the key sports, European Athletics has been happy to lead the process in the creation of the principles of good governance for the inaugural European Sports Championships, and we are pleased to move forward with this strong framework in place,” said European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.

“We are looking forward to a fantastic European Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2018 as part of this exciting multi-sport concept. We are sure the European Sports Championships will bring additional values and benefits to athletics in Europe and to the Berlin championships.”

The partnership between European Athletics, Aquatics (LEN), Cycling (UEC), Rowing (FISA) and Triathlon (ETU) welcomed European Gymnastics (UEG) and Golf Europe is set to create a major new multi-sport event on the world stage, attracting a projected television audience of around 850 million and an even wider audience via multiple digital platforms.

The newly-formed European Sports Championships 2018 Board 2018 Board also ratified the organisational rules and decision-making processes to ensure strong governance going forward.

This innovative new approach by the governing bodies, who announced their plans earlier this year, brings the existing European Championships together from seven sports in a sustainable format once every four years in order to continue building their prestige, profile and media exposure.

Around 1,500 athletes will compete in Berlin as part of the European Athletics Championships while approximately 3,025 athletes will visit Scotland for the other six events.

All seven Championships will be staged within the agreed date window.

“With all the sports now confirmed for 2018 Glasgow is again ready to show the excellence and innovation with which it can stage world class events on the global stage,” said Councillor Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council.

“Major events have become a crucial part of our city’s economy and we can now look forward with tremendous excitement and focus to partnering with this fantastic group of sports to continue to create opportunity and help improve health and well-being outcomes for our citizens.”

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the consortium for the continent’s public service free-to-air broadcasters, will be the broadcast partner for the combined championships, which are expected to generate more than 2750 hours of programming across Europe’s biggest broadcasters.

EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot, said: “With seven sports now part of the first edition, the European Sports Championships will be the centrepiece of the sports season in Europe and public service media is proud to participate in the promotion of European sports and its athletes through extensive free-to air coverage across television, digital and radio.”

The Golf event will be staged over 5 days and include men’s team, women’s team and mixed team competition.

Two male and female athletes per nation will participate, with the top 16 European nations included.

The Gymnastics event will include both the Men’s and Women’s Artistic Championships, with around 600 athletes competing in Glasgow over six days.

“We are really excited to be included in the 2018 European Sports Championships as it represents a huge opportunity for Gymnastics to further raise its profile right across Europe,” , said Georges Guelzec, President of European Gymnastics.

“We can also think of no better city than Glasgow to host our 600 competitors who will compete in the men’s and women’s European Artistic Championships.”

Innovative event hosting formats is a key theme of Host City 2015, which takes place in Glasgow on 9th to 10th November. Register your attendance at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

When in 2008 the northern English county of Durham and its small historic city became a unitary council – the fifth biggest in England – it was golden opportunity to build a new events and tourism strategy for the region. 

“One of the things that became obvious was the need to change the narrative, both regionally, nationally and internationally about Durham, which was seen as a former industrial area,” George Garlick, Chief Executive of Durham County Council, told HOST CITY.

Durham put in a bid to be the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013 – a bold move for a city of less than 40,000 people. In the end, the title was awarded to Derry~Londonderry, but Durham decided to press on with its ambitious programme of cultural events anyway as a way of attracting visitors to the region. 

It was through this work that the possibility of hosting the Lumiere festival came about, a huge light festival owned by a small and innovative arts events company called Artichoke. 

“It was one of those fortuitous things. Artichoke were planning a major festival of light elsewhere in the UK and that fell through, and they’d got backing from the European Commission and Sky Arts at that stage,” says Garlick.

“So it was a fairly fully developed proposition, and on hearing that we were raising the flag for major events here in Durham, they came to see us and we said ‘yes, that sounds great’. In 2009, pretty much at the drop of a hat, the first Lumiere festival was put on.”

Durham has hosted Lumiere every other year since then, with the city investing GB£400,000 in the event for 2011 and 2013. These sums have been matched by the Arts Council, with additional funding from the European Commission and a significant amount of private sponsorship and a major grant from VisitEngland.

Lumiere had a huge impact, with 175,000 visitors coming to see the light festival in 2013. National newspapers published double page spreads on the event and the international broadcaster BBC World ran a one minute clip of the show on its rolling news coverage for 24 hours. 

“It’s a really interesting balance of something that’s working for the local population, but also being attractive to people visiting for the first time,” says Helen Marriage, director of Artichoke. “Just over half the visitors that we count through our evaluation come from the immediate city, 17 per cent from the wider region and the rest from outside.”

The increase in tourism over the period that Durham has been hosting Lumiere is impressive. “VisitEngland said we were one of the fastest growing tourism areas over the last three years – we are up 150 per cent in Durham itself and nearly 20 per cent across the county,” says Garlick.

“The increase in the visitor economy in each of the last three years means a huge increase in employment. It’s not just the people who are actually employed for the festival – the major change is the structural change in Durham as a tourism destination. 

“The festival actually generates GB£5 million directly in restaurant sales, overnight stays and so on in the local economy. We’ve seen a lot more people coming from both Europe and in particular America.”

Lumiere is a very successful flagship event, but it’s not the only contributor to Durham’s success. 2013 was a particularly big year for the city.

“We had the Ashes test between England and Australia at riverside stadium, where England won the Ashes to baying and excited crowds, which was terrific. We had the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition, which came up from the British Library – 100,000 people bought every ticket available for the three months that it was on. We had cycling events, a brass festival – but Lumiere is the jewel in the crown.”

The good news continued in 2014, with Durham County Council being named local council of the year. “It’s a city and county that really punches above its weight,” says Marriage.

“It’s tempting to think that it’s an impoverished area with a decline of traditional industry, but that’s not the impression you get when you are here. It’s a place on the up and people are making it work – and events are really part of that culture.”

Durham’s long term strategy is hinged around Lumiere, but another important cultural event is the fast-growing Durham Book Festival. “The world heritage site between the cathedral, the castle and the university has a number of display venues, so there’s a programme worked out in advance for that,” says Garlick. 

“In 2015 there will be a major exhibition of the Magna Cartas, which are in the cathedral’s ownership to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.”

In October 2015 the Rugby World Cup comes to St. James’ Park in Newcastle, just 15 minutes from Durham. “I would hope, as we’ve seen in many previous large events and when we saw the Olympics were on, we’ll see a lot of people visiting Durham,” says Garlick.

“Durham hotels traditionally pick up a lot of business from anything major that’s happening in Newcastle because it’s an attractive place to stay and a 15 minute train journey, so the Rugby World Cup will be really good for us.”

The next Lumiere festival takes place in November 2015. “We’ve recently agreed a package with the Arts Council, which will allow us to do it next year and in 2017,” says Garlick. 

The city consulted with the local people and businesses before agreeing to host the event again. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from the public, but particularly from businesses who think this is working really well in terms of hoisting Durham’s flag,” says Garlick. 

“It’s a huge project that takes about 18 months to plan,” says Marriage. “So we are a year out and we are looking at all the logistics – traffic planning, crowd management, where the installations might go, technically what they might need.”

Helen Marriage was one of the speakers at HOST CITY Bid to Win conference on 28th October 2014, on a panel called “Bidding for the Right Event”, alongside the owner of a very different event, Peter Tindemans of Euroscience – which awards the EU City of Science. 

“It was really fascinating to begin to think about what we do from the other end of the telescope,” says Marriage. “So hearing Peter Tindemans talk about the fact that he saw Euroscience as a property that he could get cities to bid for – that’s never the way we work, we are always trying to persuade people to let us do what we do.”

Lumiere also took place in Derry last year as part of the closing celebrations for the first UK City of Culture, and there are many other events that Artichoke produces. “We are working in London, Northern Ireland, we are looking at something in Wales. We are increasingly invited to do things internationally.

“But even if cities invite us, they don’t really get what it’s going to be like and all the compromises everyone is going to have to make. Very often an artist will say ‘I really want to make something here’, and we set about the process of persuading the authority that they want to fund it and that they can accommodate it. It’s always tough the first time you go into a place.”

For more information visit www.lumiere-festival.com

SportAccord Convention has announced that PwC will be a Gold Partner for this year’s World Sport & Business Summit taking place from 19-24 April 2015 at the Sochi Expocentre, Sochi, Russia.

The agreement marks PwC’s third year as a Gold Partner. “SportAccord Convention is important to us as a platform for connecting with sport industry decision makers and speaking with them about the issues critical to their success. It gives us a chance to engage with delegates in an open, constructive atmosphere,” said Robert Gruman, who heads PwC's Global Sports Mega-Events Centre of Excellence. He continued:

“This year, we are proud that our colleague Hazem Galal, PwC’s Cities and Local Governments Consulting Global Leader, has been asked to deliver the keynote address on Legacy. In connection with that, we also plan to carry out a Sporting Leaders Survey on Legacy in partnership with the SportAccord Convention World Sport & Business Summit organisers.”

The PwC delegation to the Convention includes people from key territories across their global network – from Switzerland to the Middle East, and from the United States to Russia.

“Our Gold Partnership with PwC continues to be of great value to us as an organisation and we are delighted to have PwC deliver the keynote address.” said Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord Convention. “We are very pleased that the partnership is continuing and that we are able to provide a platform for PwC to meet its business objectives.”

PwC’s Sports Mega-Events Centre of Excellence comprises a network of professionals experienced in bringing value at all phases of the sports mega-events lifecycle.

The SportAccord Convention World Sport & Business Summit is a unique opportunity for key decision-makers in sport to engage with business leaders across 25+ industry sectors. The 6-day event features a dynamic exhibition, LawAccord, City Forum, the SportAccord Convention Village and Sports Demo Zone, as well as hosting the annual general meetings of governing bodies of world sport.

For more conference information, including the Official Schedule and Conference Programme, or to register as a delegate, visit www.sportaccordconvention.com

“Nothing had really been done on this scale before,” Tom Jones, principal of Populous, the practice that designed London 2012’s temporary venues, told delegates at International Sport Event Management Conference in London.

“There was a significant amount of temporary venue work going on at golf championships, temporary music festivals and those sorts of things, but this was quite unique.”

London 2012’s venue masterplan was not just unique; it was nothing short of revolutionary. Historically, the majority of Olympic Games venues would be built to last, but designed with the requirements of the short-term event in mind. This meant a relatively small amount of temporary overlay was required; it also resulted in a legacy of underused venues.

London 2012 subverted this norm. Only six of London 2012’s venues were new and permanent. The remainder consisted of existing world-class venues like Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon and Lords, supplemented by more than 20 temporary venues.

“We had a very high dependence on temporary structures because of the ‘no white elephants’ approach – not building where there was no legacy use,” explains James Bulley, CEO of Trivandi and former director of venues and infrastructure at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

While this was clearly a revolution in terms of sustainability, it transferred huge responsibility onto the organising committee. “London delivered more temporary structures that Sydney, Athens and Beijing put together. That is a big shift; it puts massive onus on the organising committee to deliver substantial temporary structures.”

LOCOG delivered more than 250,000 temporary seats for the London Games, all of which now have been taken down. A 23,000 seat arena was built in Greenwich Park for the equestrian events, plus a 15,000 seat arena in Horse Guards. The basketball arena in the Olympic Park was also completely temporary.

While temporary overlay traditionally fell under the watch of the organising committee, it tended to be a much smaller project. Major infrastructure works would be handled by a separate authority, while the organising committee would focus primarily on selling tickets, running the sports events and overall operations.

In the case of London 2012, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) delivered the permanent structures, but LOCOG also had a major build on its hands. According to Bulley, “it became very much focused and dependent on the very high risk elements of delivering construction.”

He questioned whether the split of work was reasonable. “We had the ODA delivering the permanent construction. Should they also have taken on the temporary construction? When you are looking at a city delivering immense infrastructure on this scale, whether that sits within the organising committee or outside it is something that should be thought through.”

The temporary nature of the structures meant that they had to be built quickly, and the elements were not on LOCOG’s side in the weeks running up to London 2012. “One of the key challenges was delivering temporary structures in greenfield sites in torrential weather,” said Bulley.

It wasn’t just the organising committee that was under strain. The temporary event commodity market was under pressure to deliver seats, tents, cabins, fences, temporary power supplies, barriers and much more.

“Under extreme pressure, the event supplier commodity market had to deliver huge amounts of infrastructure, which it perhaps wasn’t geared up to do so at the volume at which we needed to do it.”

Nonetheless, London 2012 raised the bar and the result is a faster, higher and stronger temporary infrastructure sector. Bulley points to advances in the seating industry in particular.

“We put in new standards for designs, because the market couldn’t supply what we were looking to achieve. A lot of the seating in London 2012 was new; it was manufactured for the event. We set new standards for safety and comfort, for example the 800mm seat-row depth, rather than the 720mm which you sometimes see in temporary stands.”

Jones adds: “We were keen to make the experience of going to a temporary venue as close as going to a permanent venue as possible, both in terms of comfort and quality.”

London 2012 also pushed the envelope when it came to sports surfaces. “We worked incredibly hard with the governing bodies and sports surface companies to deliver the fastest possible tracks and highest quality fields of play,” said Bulley.

Despite the large volumes and short timeframes, the local industry responded well to these demands. Bulley questions whether mega events in the immediate future will have the same resources to hand. “We had a very sophisticated event supply industry within Europe to tap into. For Brazil, it’s much more challenging.”

The big scale-down
Some of the permanent venues also had temporary aspects to them, with modular construction techniques being deployed to make them scalable. For example, the two “wings” that were plugged in to the aquatics centre to provide extra capacity during the Games are now being removed to leave the 1,500 to 2,000-seat community pool, in line with legacy plans.

Jones said: “The reduction in size of the aquatic centre, the opening of the copper box have all pretty much followed plan. The Olympic stadium is clearly different.”

The 80,000 seat stadium used in Games time was originally planned to be reduced to 25,000 seats, with a permanent athletics track. Bulley said: “We went to the market and said would a Premiership football club be prepared to take the stadium on? That was not the case at the time, so we followed the athletics legacy.”

After much wrangling, the stadium has been determined as the home ground of West Ham United. Having a top flight football club as a tenant will help to ensure regular custom in the Queen Elizabeth Park, as the Olympic Park will be known. “If you can retain it as a large facility it’s a much preferable solution,” said Bulley.

However, it does necessitate major changes. “We are managing to keep a significant amount of the structure,” said Jones. “When we were doing the original design we were trying to keep as much flexibility as possible. But clearly if the legacy use changes, then that is going to create challenges afterwards.”

These challenges include removing seating in the lower tier and extending the roof. The promise of an athletics legacy is also being honoured alongside the West Ham tenancy. “As the Olympic stadium, it will have to serve other uses than football,” said Bulley.

The revised designs for the stadium include a retractable lower tier that reveals will reveal the athletics track for events such as the World Athletics Championships, which the venue will host in 2017.

HOST CITY: The entire Qatar 2022 project requires more construction work than any other sports event in history. How do you feel about the challenges ahead?

Al Khater: The heavy lifting is not the stadiums; it is the rest of the infrastructure. We do not see it as a challenge – we see it as a significant amount of work.

There is a fine balancing act and the next nine years are exactly like that. We are putting into place a decision-making process, up and down the supply chain, that is quick and efficient.

HOST CITY: What are the most important criteria for selecting main contractors for the construction work?

Al Khater: One of the most important attributes will be the ability to understand the local requirements and dynamics of major programmes within Qatar. Whilst there is such a large amount of activity taking place within a relatively short timescale, it is vital that our delivery contractors understand the landscape they will be operating in with the challenges and opportunities that this presents.

Another attribute would be the open dialogue that we would expect throughout our supply chain and the early communication of risks and issues as well as the recommended options for resolution. We want to work closely with our partners within an approach that has a “no surprises” mentality.

Security at the 2014 World Cup was high on the agenda at FIFA’s National Teams Workshop in Florianopolis on Thursday, with Brazilian officials announcing the deployment of 170,000 security professionals to ensure the safe hosting of the event.

The majority of these security personnel will come from the police and armed forces. Speaking at a FIFA press conference, Andrei Rodrigues, of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice’s special secretariat for security at major events (SESGE) said “150,000 public-security and armed-forces professionals will be involved, with SESGE investing BRL1.17b [USD 500m] and the Ministry of Defence some BRL708m [USD 300m].

“These are resources deployed solely for the purposes of providing security to the population on an everyday basis.”

In addition to this investment, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) announced that a further 20,000 workers from the private sector will be engaged in delivering event security. The LOC’s head of security Hilario Medeiros said “It is very clear that Brazil is ready in terms of its various organisations and private security, with some 20,000 men being trained in event security."

With the 2013 Confederations Cup having taken place amid scenes of serious civil unrest, the security secretariat is understandably worried about the potential for violence. Rodrigues said “We do have one major concern, which is not the fact that people might demonstrate, as they are just exercising their democratic right in doing so. Our concern is with any violence that occurs as part of those demonstrations.

“The Confederations Cup was an example of that. There was one day in June when there were more than one million people on the streets and we had more than 50,000 officers working. Even so, the competition schedule was not affected, the demonstrations did not impact on the delegations and there were no injuries caused by the actions of the officers.”

FIFA proud to be in Brazil
FIFA’s director of security Ralf Mutschke denied that last year’s protests were directed at the sports federation. “We saw some social unrest and vandalism at the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2013, but that does not mean to say that we are going to reduce our presence, hide ourselves away or keep our symbols under cover.

“We do not feel, in fact, that we are the main target of the demonstrators. Obviously the protests had something to do with the Confederations Cup and the fact that Brazil and the whole world was watching the competition. We don’t feel that we are the targets, though. Far from it: we are proud to be here in Brazil.”

Sochi 2014 will create a significant “human” legacy of experience gained by those working to successfully deliver the Winter Games, according to leading figures in the IOC and the Organising Committee.

“The Games will leave a tremendous human legacy,” said Jean-Claude Killy, Chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014 on Friday. 

“The highly trained professionals and volunteers from the Games will no doubt play a key role in the success of the World Cup and other major sporting events that Russia will host in the future.”

Sochi 2014 marks the first time that the Olympic Winter Games have been held in Russia and signals the first of many major sporting events being held in the country, with the inaugural Russian Grand Prix due to take place in Sochi in October 2014 and the FIFA World Cup coming to cities all over Russia – including Sochi – in 2018. 

“There will be tremendous synergies for the country in a number of areas as it strives to put on these great sporting events,” said Killy.

Olympic University

Hosting the 2014 Olympic Winter Games has also led to the establishment of the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU), which opened in Sochi earlier this year to train the next generation of sports management professionals, catering to the demand in Russia and around the world for highly qualified specialists in the international sport industry. Topics of study will include venue management, event management, media management, governance and sport diplomacy, and talent management. 

“Currently, not just in Russia but all over the world, there is a lack of qualified specialists in sports management,” said RIOU Rector Professor Lev Belousov. “RIOU's task is to set up a mechanism for leading Russian and international practising specialists to pass on practical knowledge to students and to train a new generation of highly qualified sports managers in specialisms needed by the Olympic and Paralympic movement and by the international sports industry.” 

During Sochi 2014, students participated in an observation programme allowing them to assess in detail the complex logistical operations behind the organisation of the Winter Games. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Aleksander Bryantsev, head of education at Sochi 2014. 

IOC President Thomas Bach also hailed the success of the RIOU, saying “There will be many lasting legacies from Sochi 2014, including the RIOU. The Olympic Movement as a whole will benefit from the establishment of the university, as, of course, will Russian sport.”

Dmitry Chernyshenko, President of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee added “The Russian International Olympic University serves as an example of the significant lasting legacy for Russia after the Games have been hosted in Sochi,” he explains. “It will become the key centre for training a new generation of highly-qualified sports managers in Russia.”

SportAccord Convention announced on Tuesday that PwC will be a Gold Partner of this year’s event, which takes place from 6-11 April 2014 in Belek/Antalya, Turkey. The agreement marks PwC’s second year as a Gold Partner. 

“The first year of our partnership with SportAccord Convention was extremely successful and we are very pleased to be continuing as a Gold Partner in 2014,” said Robert Gruman, PwC Russia Advisory Leader, who heads PwC's Global Sports Mega-Events Centre of Excellence.

“SportAccord Convention provides us with networking opportunities and enhances our ability to build relationships with International Federations and the global sports movement.”

PwC’s Sports Mega-Events Centre of Excellence comprises a network of professionals experienced in bringing value at all phases of the sports mega-events lifecycle. 

For the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, PwC’s experts, in partnership with the Sochi Organising Committee, are carrying out over 200 projects in several key areas, from strategic and operational planning to supply chain management, from HR consulting to risk management. 

“Our Gold Partnership with PwC has been of great value to us as an organisation and we are gratified to know that the feeling is mutual” said Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord Convention.

“We are very pleased that the partnership is continuing and that we are able to provide a platform for PwC to meet its business objectives.”

In 2013, PwC conducted the first Economic Impact Study of SportAccord Convention and estimated the direct and indirect impact of the event in Saint Petersburg, Russia at USD7.69 million.

Three leading figures in football have been added to the bill of the Soccerex Asian Forum, organised in partnership with the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP). 

Speaking alongside AFDP founder HRH Prince Ali Bin Hussein, Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie announced that Moya Dodd, AFC Vice President and FIFA Executive Committee Member will be playing a key role at the event. 

Dodd will speak on the future of football in Asia and the development of women’s football. She will be joined at the event by Singapore FA General Secretary and AFC Executive Committee Member, Winston Lee.

In addition to these two leading football administrators, Revie also confirmed that Argentinean football legend and World Cup winner Osvaldo Ardiles will be attending the event and sharing his vast football knowledge, including his experiences of playing and coaching in Asia and winning the World Cup.

Mr Ardiles will join fellow football legends, Bryan Robson and John Barnes as part of a special panel discussion at the event.

Also in attendance at the press conference was Sunando Dhar, CEO of I-League, who discussed the All Indian Football Federations involvement with the Soccerex Asian Forum, which will see General Secretary, Kushal Das participating in a panel discussion on commercial development within Asian football.

It was also confirmed at the press conference that the Marriott Hotel Jordan Valley will be the official event hotel. Soccerex also announced a new global partnership with leading international law firm, Pinsent Masons.

HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein said “The Asian Forum is a platform for all the major Asian leagues, clubs and other stakeholders to get together and discuss the development of football across the continent; to share best practices in coaching development, stadia development, women’s football and most importantly for me, social development. Soccerex is the best platform for this.”

Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie added “My thanks goes to his HRH, and to all those participating in this unique event, in this unique setting. We will be truly be bringing the world of football, not just Asia, to this wonderful country.”

The Soccerex Asian Forum will take place on 13-14 May at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre by the Dead Sea in Jordan. The two day event, featuring a conference and exhibition, will bring together over 1000 senior decision makers from the football industry across Asia and the rest of the world, providing a platform for networking and knowledge sharing, with the aim of developing football throughout the continent.

For further details about the Soccerex Asian Forum please go to www.soccerex.com/asia or contact Soccerex on +44 208 987 5522

The local organising committee (LOC) of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup Australia has confirmed that it will contribute to the Soccerex Asian Forum, which takes place in Jordan on 13 to 14 May 2014. 

Speaking at the conference, the LOC’s chief operating officer Mark Falvo will update the industry on Australia’s preparations to host Asia’s biggest football tournament. The organising committee will also exhibit at the event through a joint partnership with the Austrade, the Australian Trade Commission. 

“With major events very much a focal point for the world of football, we’re looking forward to sharing our successful pre-event activities, as well as the remaining challenges to putting on a major international event with our counterparts from across the world. There is no better event to do that at than Soccerex,” Mr Falvo said.

Austrade will promote “Match Australia”, the International Sports Business Program for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, showcasing the best of Australian business in delivering major sporting events with the aim of fostering relationships within the Asian market. 

Australia will join an array of international delegations at the Forum, including Jordan, Spain, England, Brazil, Qatar, United States of America, Turkey, Argentina, India, Singapore, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Palestine, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon. 

 “The Forum is going from strength to strength and with the addition of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 LOC, it will undoubtedly encompass the entire Asian and Oceania football industry,” says Duncan Revie, CEO of Soccerex. 

“The ‘Major Events Panel’ will provide delegates with a true insight on what it takes to host and plan a major event, guaranteeing a few eye openers from those at the top level.” 

 The Forum, held in partnership with the Asian Football Development Project founded and chaired by HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, will bring together the leading figures from Asian football and other international experts to discuss the development of the game across Asia. 

The conference agenda will include a review of the opportunities for growth and the challenges facing Asian football.

For further details about the Soccerex Asian Forum please contact Soccerex on +44 208 987 5522 or visit www.soccerex.com/events/asia/