By Paul Nicholson
October 23 – Marcel Schmid, the boss of boutique conference organiser International Football Arena, is feeling uncharacteristically happy. His Berlin conference taking place October 30, titled Football’s Digital Transformation, is now full and closed to registrations. His main conference, IFA Zurich, which takes place December 3 at the House of FIFA, is rapidly gathering momentum.
“Digital and football is a hot subject and will continue to be for some time yet,” says Schmid of his Berlin debut. “This is why we have dedicated a whole conference to one topic. We want to be small but important.”
Schmid’s Zurich event has long been an important fixture on the conference calendar for the fortunate ones that make the guest list for this invitation-only meeting at FIFA House.
For the first time Schmid is opening the conference up to a small number of corporate packages – essentially companies that might not fit into the networking mix Schmid puts together, but would still like to attend.
This year the Zurich theme is focused around the role of agents, the issues around third-party ownership, as well as an exploration of football’s new financial order.
“There is big change coming into the market with the changes in regulation,” says Schmid. “Agents could be running out of jobs as FIFA pulls out. The transfer of minors is another big thing…it is not just about the dark side. We also need to look at TPO and we have FIFA’s head of legal Marco Villager joining a panel. It will be interesting to hear from him, since this isn’t just a European case and only left for Rummenigge or Platini to deal with it.
“Football finance has changed and we will look at how much sense it makes to invest in a football club. We now see clubs which are too big for national competition, but too small to ever win on international level. To manage such a club is quite a challenge, ask Basel, Celtic or Benfica about it.”
This promises to be a spicy topic and IFA have lined up Italian football entrepreneur Giampaolo Pozzo who owns Udinese in Italy, Granada in Spain and Watford in England. Pozzo has already been through four managers at Watford this season and the club is top of the Championship – it will be interesting to see how many more he will get through by the start of IFA.
The 15 years of IFA Zurich has always been about the networking opportunities. The 16th edition promises to be no different. An eclectic mix of people backed up by a, sometimes eclectic, series of panels opens up discussion and opportunity.
For those not yet invited or registered then find out more at www.internationalfootball.com. To find out more about corporate packages and IWF discounts email moc.l1734875428labto1734875428ofdlr1734875428owedi1734875428sni@o1734875428fni1734875428.
Contact the writer of this story at oc.ll1734875428abtoo1734875428fdlro1734875428wedis1734875428ni@no1734875428slohc1734875428in.lu1734875428ap1734875428