March 4 – What better place could there be to head for a football business gathering and what better timing? In a major announcement the International Football Arena (IFA) has teamed up with the Financial Times (FT) to host a summit, June 17, in Rio de Janeiro.
The one-day event will take place in the current hot spot of world football and is timed for the start of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.
The world’s eyes will be on Brazil as it prepares for the FIFA World Cup 2014, and the summit will feature leading voices in the world of football, both on and off the pitch, in a mix of interviews, panel sessions and keynote presentations.
The FT/IFA Business of Football Summit – Staying Competitive is the first time that the FT has thrown its weight behind a football conference and is the first time the IFA has taken its successful event format to Brazil.
IFA chairman Marcel Schmid said: “We are very excited already by the interest we are getting in this event and the level at which people will be attending. This is a significant opportunity for the business of football worldwide to meet in an intimate forum with the leaders of Brazilian football.
“This isn’t just about the World Cup but about the opening up of major new football markets across a football crazy continent. At the IFA we have already run specific Brazil sessions that have had great feedback from participants. Now we are taking it to a much deeper level in-country at a key time for the football community worldwide.”
The sessions will also tackle the biggest issues facing the international football business community through, in part, the prism of what is happening in the Brazilian game.
The FT/IFA summit will take place at the Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio and is timed for the day after Italy play Mexico in their opening match of the competition in the iconic Maracanã stadium in Rio that is being refurbished for the event. Brazil open the tournament the day before in Brazilia against Japan.
IFA conferences have established themselves as a key industry talking shops and have developed a certain exclusivity of attendance, usually by invitation only for their round-table discussion days. The main IFA event is held in Zurich every year and is now into its 15th edition.
The full Rio agenda has not been released yet but Schmid is confident that it will be as creative and stimulating, and surprising, as IFA events generally are.
“The FT will bring a tougher financial scrutiny and analysis of the business opportunity than perhaps we may have had before. But attendees should expect our usual cross-section of leaders from the governing bodies, clubs, corporations, agencies, media – all relevant players that make up the football community,” said Schmid.
“After all, we are in Rio during an important competition and at a crucial time as Brazil prepares for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Of course all the key people are going to be there and our Summit is the prefect opportunity for them to meet and present. Where else would they be?”
For more information go to www.internationalfootball.com or www.ft-live.com/football
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