Soccerex 2007

Soccerex 2007 - B2B football convention and conference
Arunava Chaudhuri & Chris Punnakkattu Daniel in Johannesburg
November 24 - 30, 2007 at Johannesburg, South Africa

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Reports & Pictures by IFC's
Arunava Chaudhuri & Chris Punnakkattu Daniel:

Report
Soccerex 2007 - The global business convention for football worldwide is being held from November 25 to 28, 2006 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg for the first time in South Africa ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and as in the last couple of years IndianFootball.Com as an official media partner is there to cover the event.
Soccerex is the largest football industry gathering each year, which is used for networking and doing business in the industry of football. We once more hope many will want to hear from us about Indian football and the prospects that it has. Our work has been helped by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who made it a point to mention India once more on the global stage as a country which the football world needs to embrace. We hope to generate interest and that people look at our country and its football!
Soccerex has come a long way since its humble beginnings in London. This year also marks the first of three years of Soccerex at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg; hosted in South Africa by the Gauteng Province. And this years Soccerex is the biggest so far. The organisers expect upto 5.000 delegates and over 300 exhibitors.
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa the main focus shifts to Africa and the development of the game on the continent.

Daily Notes
November 25: Soccerex once more started with the football festival this time held at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton City. As in the last few years it started off with children getting coaching sessions and competing against each other. The children had a lot of fun and could interact with some former football greats. In the afternoon the legends took on each other in a 5 a-side tournament on an artificial football pitch which had been put in place at the Nelson Mandela Square for the tournament. Liverpool lost against the African Allstars in a penalty shootout, while Soccerex Select beat Manchester United 6-2 to make the finals. In the finals the African Allstars beat Soccerex select 4-0 to lift the trophy amongst much fanfare.
In the evening there was a VIP / Media launch reception where one informally could interact with delegates from around the world while the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification draw as being shown on TV. It was good to see a sizable Indian presence at Soccerex for the first time with Chris and myself meeting Sanjay Das and Henry Menezes (both Mumbai FC), Kunal Sareen (Soccernova) and Sanjiv Saran Mehra (Saran Presents) there. Also present at Soccerex is Saumil Majmudar (SportzVillage) whom we hope to meet in the coming days.

November 26: The official opening ceremony of Soccerex was held on Day 2 at one of the larger banquet halls. The opening was moderated by Sky Sports' Matt Lorenzo with Soccerex chairman Tony Martin, FIFA president Joseph Sepp Blatter, Gauteng Provincial Government Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, South African General Manager Carlos Alberto Pereira and Soccerex Ambassador & South African football legend Lucas Radebe on the dias. After the opening speech by Tony Martin and Mbhazima Shilowa it was the turn of FIFA president Sepp Blatter to deliver his address to the delegates.
And from an Indian point of view the FIFA president once more mentioned India as the market of the future for football! Something he has done regularly since the FIFA Congress last year ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Indian IT major Satyam, a leading global consulting and information technology services provider, has become the first Indian company ever to sign up as a FIFA World Cup™ Sponsor for 2010 and 2014. And president Blatter hoped that this would only be a start for more Indian involvement in the business of football.
President Blatter said, "India is a new market in football, a market of more than one billion people. That's not bad!"
It was surprisingly good to see that the FIFA president was very well informed about the latest happenings in Indian football. He told the gathered delegates that the new Indian Professional Football League had been launched in the last couple of days and that he hoped India would become part of the big football family very soon.
It is good to see that the first man of world football is keeping a close eye on what is happening in Indian football and with India in FIFA's development focus that will hopefully take our football forward.
The day ended with a networking event in an informal environment at the FashionTV Café where people could discuss the events of the day and cool down on some drinks.

November 27: The second day saw numerous discussion panels, workshops and networking sessions for the international football world to interact. People were interested to talk to the Indian football contingent at Soccerex after FIFA president Blatter made his pledge to the football world to look at India as a future market for football. People were interested to know more about Indian football and do business there, but there was a lack of understanding the problems attached with Indian football.
The day ended with the Gala Dinner and the Soccerex Merit Awards 2007 handed out to local football ambassadors and dignitaries of Gauteng Province.

November 28: The third and final day of Soccerex 2007 saw people having their final meetings before they would return home. And the most interesting panel of the day to us was "Developing Football in China" were Ian Arye (Liverpool FC commercial director), Claes Bourghardt (Premier Goals chairman), Dr. Rogan Taylor (Liverpool University, Director Football Industry Group), Steven Sayer (Manchester City FC's Head of Sponsorship & Partnership) and Javier Munoa (FC Barcelona) with Paul Smith (former Chelsea FC and IMG) as the moderator discussed the scenario surrounding the interest of European clubs in the Chinese market with no to little results really to show off. The problems and chances in the Chinese market were discussed with Ian Arye bringing India into the discussions as the other market besides China and the USA which his club Liverpool FC were looking at. Dr. Rogan Taylor, who has lived in India and across the planet, questioned why English clubs haven't looked at India seriously not today or yesterday, but over the last decade or so. The opportunities were huge in India and with most people able to speak English it would be an easier market then China to operate in.

Summary:
Soccerex made a successful start of their three year stay of the Soccerex convention in South Africa!
The Soccerex convention was the biggest so far in size with over 5.000 attendees and over 300 exhibitors with a big focus on Africa and the first FIFA World Cup on the continent. The exhibition showed some new innovations in football and where the game could be going, A lot of stands highlighted artificial turf and LED ad banners, which both are becoming more and more popular around the world.

And for the first time India had a proper representation at Soccerex and after talking to those who came from India to participate, we will all work together to get more people working within Indian football and those who could get involved to come to Soccerex convention 2008.
Maybe India will even be represented in the exhibition arena, but a lot of effort will have to be put in to achieve that in the coming year.
It was also discussed how to work together to help the development of Indian football and we might have some projects to work on in the near future.

In 2008 Soccerex is set to grow further from two to four events. Besides the Soccerex convention in South Africa in November 2008, the year starts with the Soccerex Dubai Forum on January 7 at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers a small exclusive forum intended for 250 attendees only. It is then followed by the established Soccerex London Forum at the Wembley Stadium on April 9, while in May Soccerex goes to China with a Shanghai Forum in May 2008.