NFL agrees new TV rights deal with RTL and DAZN for German-speaking market

RTL Group (RTL) and DAZN have entered into long-term media distribution agreements with the NFL for the German market, offering German football fans more NFL games than ever before. The broadcast groups’ multi-year collaboration with the NFL will start with the 2023/2024 season.

The award of TV rights for the coming years will enable NFL fans in Germany to watch over 170 live games per season. The new agreements with RTL and DAZN will provide nearly 30% more live NFL games in Germanthan before. In addition, the two broadcasting groups are planning numerous new programming formats.

Sameer Pabari, Managing Director, International Media at National Football League (NFL): “We are thrilled to announce our two new media partnerships in Germany. From the 2023/2024 season, German NFL fans will be able to watch more live game broadcasts in German, and more weekly programming showcasing the best of the action on and off the field, than ever before. Both RTL and DAZN are committed to further developing the sport of football across the German speaking market with innovative content concepts, new approaches to broadcasting, and truly cross-platform distribution plans, ensuring that NFL continues to reach new audiences and grow the number of fans in the region for years to come. At the same time, we would like to thank our current free-to-air TV partners ProSieben and ProSieben MAXX for their longstanding partnership. Their support has been instrumental in developing the sport and the NFL fan base in recent years.”

Under the new RTL agreement, starting with the 2023/24 season, RTL and NITRO will be the exclusive free-to-air TV partners of the NFL in Germany. In addition, exclusive games will be shown live each week on RTL+. Between September and February of each season, football fans can look forward to almost 80 live broadcasts.

NFL programming will begin in 2023, with the agreement including April’s NFL Draft, the preseason, weekly regular season games, each season’s in-market Germany Game, the Playoffs, the Pro Bowl and the international sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl, with its huge interest to fans worldwide and its legendary half-time shows. The wide-ranging sports rights package is complemented by extensive highlight and original programming across all platforms.

Henning Tewes, Managing Director RTL Television and Chief Content Officer RTL Germany: “With the acquisition of the NFL rights, we are strengthening our programs sustainably for many years to come – this applies to RTL as well as to NITRO and our fast-growing streaming offering RTL+. This investment underscores our ambition as a broadcasting group to remain Germany’s leader in the advertising-relevant target group in the future. Viewers can look forward to highly attractive live sports from the USA. In the NFL, we have a highly professional partner who is also focused on growth, and we are very much looking forward to working with the world’s most successful professional league.”

The new DAZN agreement sees the NFL extending a long-term partnership that has taken the sport to many new viewers. On September 11, the 2022 regular season coverage kicks off on DAZN with the first ‘ENDZN’ of the season, where fans can experience all the action from all games as they happen. As last year, DAZN will offer its exclusive German-language ENDZN coverage in the DACH region every Sunday on DAZN. In addition, DAZN will also broadcast NFL RedZone and all ‘primetime’ games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday night.

The new agreement includes a new addition to the NFL’s broadcast calendar on DAZN. Starting with the 2023/24 season, DAZN will broadcast exclusively one early kickoff time game (7:00 p.m.) and one late kickoff time game (10:25 p.m.) every Sunday. These games will not be available on free TV.

The new season marks a landmark for Germany, with the inaugural Germany Game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks in Munich on November 13. Next year, another regular-season game will be played in Frankfurt. DAZN will be live at both games, with the new rights agreement including co-exclusive broadcast rights to each season’s Germany Game, starting in 2022.

“American football and enthusiasm for the NFL have been growing rapidly in German-speaking countries for years, to which DAZN’s strong partnership with the NFL has contributed significantly. Innovative formats like ‘ENDZN’, which fans can only experience on DAZN, and the most comprehensive live as well as editorial coverage in German, make the NFL one of the most popular leagues among DAZN subscribers. That’s why I’m delighted that we’ll be able to present it to fans for many years to come via DAZN and the linear channels DAZN1 and DAZN2,” said Alice Mascia, head of DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

WSL launches new promotional campaign ahead of 2022/23 season

As the stars of women’s football prepare to be unleashed once more to domestic audiences, the Barclays Women’s Super League is marking the start of the 2022/23 season with a new promotional campaign which shows the league is an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

The hero film aired for the first time at the weekend on ITV during the England vs Austria match broadcast. Celebrating the incredible talent, fierce rivalries and the biggest names in the game, the filmhighlights the very best the Barclays Women’s Super League has to offer.

After an incredible summer of football where England were crowned champions at UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, the campaign shows the standout stars from the Euros playing week in, week out in the BWSL. The ambition is to create a huge moment of impact, building on the momentum of the Euros to make the 2022/23 season a record-breaking one.

Spanning national TV advert slots and billboards to digital and social media, the campaign will be impossible to miss, with the OOH element going live from 5th September on some of the largest retail screens in Europe in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. The campaign is backed by league partners Sky Sports, BBC, Barclays, EA and Nike, who are all launching their own season launch campaigns to help make the 2022/23 season the biggest yet.

Kelly Simmons, Director of the Women’s Professional Game at The FA, commented: “We’ve just witnessed an incredible summer of women’s football that defied every expectation. The Lionesses have done a tremendous job in opening women’s football to a new legion of fans, the job now is ensuring this translates to attendance figures in the BWSL. We’ve already seen record-breaking demand from fans wanting to continue their interest in women’s football and the season launch campaign is about ensuring that momentum continues into the opening weekend and throughout the 2022/23 season. The film shows that the product on offer in the BWSL is world-class and one that can appeal to everyone.”

With many clubs already reporting record-breaking ticket sales following the Euros, the 2022/23 BWSL season promises to be the biggest yet. The season opens 10th September, with some huge fixtures lined up the club’s main stadiums, including Chelsea vs West Ham at Stamford Bridge, Tottenham vs Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Brighton vs Aston Villa at the Amex.

With ticket demand higher than ever, records already look set to be broken before the season even starts. Arsenal are on course to break the BWSL attendance record, with 38,500 tickets sold for their fixture against Tottenham on 24th September. The record is currently held by Tottenham, set at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November 2019 for the same fixture.

ECB announce figures showing success of The Hundred’s second edition

Following The Hundred’s showpiece final on Saturday, which saw Oval Invincibles crowned women’s champions and Trent Rockets lifting the men’s trophy, figures show more than 500,000 people attended games across the course of the competition.

The Hundred has once again excited cricket fans new and old with its innovative mix of high energy sporting action and epic entertainment. It is an integral part of the ECB’s strategic plan, Inspiring Generations, which aims to grow cricket and inspire a new generation to believe that it is a game for them, whether they follow a team, play the game, or attend a match.

This year has built on the inaugural summer of The Hundred when it comes to encouraging more families to get into the game. 22% of tickets went to children, up from 19% last year; 28% of ticket buyers were women, up from 21% last year; and families made up 41%, up from 36% last year.

2022’s edition of The Hundred also saw incredible support for the women’s game with 271,000 people attending – another global record for a women’s cricket competition. All eight venues also broke their previous best for domestic women’s attendances. The UK domestic record for a women’s game was broken twice at Lord’s (17,387 attended London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles on Saturday 27 August and 20,840 for The Hundred final), resulting in an average attendance of 10,400 for women’s games in 2022.

Through Sky and the BBC, a total of 14.1m people watched some of the action on TV, with women (31%) making up a significant share of the audience. Of this audience, 42% hadn’t watched any other ECB cricket in 2022 prior to The Hundred, resulting in 5.9m new viewers.

In addition, selected games across this year’s competition were live on BBC iPlayer, shown by Sky Sports on their YouTube channel and, for the first time, streamed on TikTok by Sky Sports. Millions more have caught up with the action through video clips online.

Viewers will have seen memorable moments throughout the competition, with Will Smeed hitting the first hundred, closely followed by Will Jacks, and Alana King taking the first hat-trick in the women’s competition. Overseas talent from cricketing powerhouses such as Australia, the West Indies, South Africa and West Indies was pitted against the best short-format home grown stars, with standout performances from Laura Wolvaardt and Dawid Malan with the bat and Amanda-Jade Wellington and Tom Helm with the ball.

Birmingham Phoenix captain Moeen Ali said: “I really enjoyed playing in this year’s competition, and there’s been some top quality cricket. It feels like there’s been more depth across all the squads and we’ve seen some standout performances from both big names but also rising stars. I’m already looking forward to next year’s draft to see how we shape up in 2023.”

Oval Invincibles batter Suzie Bates added: “Coming over from New Zealand, I was keen to experience The Hundred after seeing it last year and to finish up winning the competition is an unbelievable feeling. It is amazing that through the Commonwealth Games and now a domestic competition in The Hundred, we’ve been playing in front of massive crowds, which is amazing for women’s cricket, and why the biggest names in the game are coming to play here.”

As well as inspiring on the pitch, stars from The Hundred have played their part off it too. Communities across the UK have benefitted from over 150 activations engaging with over 10,000 children and young people, with over 300 players from all eight teams giving up their time to run training sessions, take selfies and chat to grassroots cricket players as well as those experiencing the sport for the first time. The eight teams’ social channels have seen strong growth this summer, rising by 76% overall, as more fans build an affinity with their Hundred superstars.

The Hundred supports this investment in grassroots cricket by providing another revenue stream for the game. The ECB is once again, on course to hit projections for surplus revenue of around £10m, which is then invested back into cricket. Last year’s surplus has helped to support, amongst other initiatives, bursaries to fund free places on All Stars and Dynamos courses. 

Sanjay Patel, Managing Director of The Hundred said: “It’s been brilliant to see more families, more kids and record numbers attending the games this year. The Hundred is all about welcoming more people into cricket, and it has delivered on that again this year. It’s wonderful to see and hear so many families being inspired by a mix of great cricket and great entertainment.

“Huge congratulations go to Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets for taking the titles this year. I would like to thank everyone involved for their contribution, from Sky and BBC, through to all our commercial partners, the host venues and the fans. You’ve helped to make The Hundred a fantastic, world-leading competition and grown cricket’s audience once again.”

For the second year in a row, the number of kids’ participating in cricket remains strong, with over 100,000 All Stars and Dynamos expected to have taken part in the programmes by the end of the year, with at least 27,000 being girls. As part of the programmes, Hundred Topps Cards have been given out to children to help inspire the next generations to emulate their heroes. Almost 20,000 free places have been offered to Counties, 10,000 through the ECB’s partnership with Sky Dynamos Intros and a further 10,000 funded through the ECB’s All Star bursaries.

Bryan Henderson, Sky Sports Director of Cricket said:“We couldn’t be happier with The Hundred after two years. Since its inception, the competition has reached more than 13.5m people across Sky Sports platforms and the aim of bringing cricket to new fans is proving successful as our audience over the last two years is younger and more diverse than other formats of the game, with more women watching than ever before. 

“Our award-winning coverage has again been well received, with our on-screen team proving incredibly popular for both new and existing cricket fans. We’re incredibly proud of implementing further innovations into our coverage to give the viewer even more insight into the game through technology such as helmet cam and power rating, while player avatars have once again proven popular.

“We’re thrilled to continue working with The ECB as we keep bringing this competition to cricket fans old and new until at least 2028.”

Exec Producer, BBC Cricket, Stephen Lyle said: “We are really proud of our extensive coverage of The Hundred, on TV, Radio and online this summer. To be able to bring new audiences to the world of cricket and see increased levels of engagement in local areas is integral to our offering at the BBC. It has also been a pleasure to witness breakout players star alongside world class talent and we can’t wait to see where The Hundred goes next.”

Castore successfully raises new debt facilities

Castore, the fast growth premium British sportswear brand, today announces that it has successfully raised new debt facilities.   

The new £50,000,000 secured revolving credit facility (“RCF”) has an initial maturity of three years and is provided by a club of three banks. Castore has the ability to extend the facility by an additional year and increase the RCF to £75,000,000. 

The new RCF will:  

  • give Castore additional levels of liquidity to further support the Group’s strategic growth ambitions;  
  • lengthen the maturity of its committed debt facilities, enhancing Castore’s financial flexibility; and  
  • broaden its banking partners by establishing relationships with BNP Paribas, HSBC UK Bank plc and Silicon Valley Bank UK  

Castore was advised by Rothschild & Co on its refinancing, Addleshaw Goddard LLP acted for the Company and Eversheds Sutherland LLP for the Lenders. 

Tom Beahon, Castore co-founder commented: ‘We are delighted to have successfully raised new debt facilities with three global banking partners. The increased facility is a strong endorsement of Castore’s exceptional performance in recent years, as well as our business model and strategy. The additional liquidity will allow us to further accelerate and internationalise our growth trajectory as we continue to build Castore into the leading premium sportswear brand in the 

NBA Africa and Africell launch partnership

NBA Africa and Africell, one of the fastest-growing mobile network operators in Africa, today announced a multiyear collaboration to engage thousands of Angolan youth through NBA (www.NBA.com) watch parties, merchandise giveaways, a Jr. NBA league and clinics, “Her Time to Play” seminars, and co-branded marketing campaigns that will provide fans in Angola with the opportunity to win tickets to NBA games in the U.S. The announcement makes Africell the Official Mobile Partner of NBA Africa in Angola. 

As part of “Her Time to Play”, the WNBA and NBA’s grassroots initiative to inspire the next generation of girls ages 7-14 to play basketball in a positive and healthy way, NBA Africa and Africell will provide Angolan girls and women with ways to engage with and learn from one another through the game of basketball. The program’s curriculum pairs on-court training with off-court life skills lessons to help young women develop as players and leaders.

Additional details about the giveaways, watch parties and youth basketball programs will be announced at a later date.

“Playing and watching sport contributes to personal growth and drives wider social inclusion,” said Africell Group CEO and Chairman, Ziad Dalloul. “Basketball is hugely popular in Angola, which has a proud history producing talented players and winning teams.  By partnering officially with NBA Africa in Angola, we will encourage more youth participation in basketball and help the sport serve as a platform for positive change in communities across the country.”

“Collaborating with a leading mobile operator like Africell will build on our efforts to make the game of basketball more accessible to youth across Africa and allow us to engage more young players and fans in Angola than ever before,” said NBA Africa CEO Victor Williams. “We look forward to working with Africell to expand our youth development and social responsibility initiatives to positively impact boys and girls nationwide.”

The collaboration builds on NBA Africa’s previous initiatives in Angola, including hosting Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa in Luanda in 2016 and conducting Jr. NBA leagues in 2017 and 2018.  BWB, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program, has reached nearly 100 Angolan boys and girls since its launch in Africa in 2003.  

The collaboration also builds on Africell’s support for sports-related initiatives in its other operating markets, including projects focused on football and athletics

Looking back at Birmingham’s 2022 Scale Up Games

The Scale Up Games took place over five days, alongside the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, with the goal of empowering and providing guidance for start-up businesses so they could fulfil their global objectives and aspirations.

The Games were put on by the DIT’s Midlands Engine team in partnership with the Global Entrepreneur Programme. 

The first round of the competition took place in March. This round was a national competition with different companies in Commonwealth countries battling it out for a ticket to Birmingham.

Quidich is based in India and on March 22nd, their CEO Rahat Kulshreshtha, gave a five minute pitch about the company and faced questions from the judging panel. 

Tim Luft, a judge on the panel, said: “They won the Silver medal as they showed real innovation in the future development of sports TV broadcast – we particularly enjoyed hearing about their innovative use of Augmented Reality to provide further content when watching live sport.

“The company were able to showcase their range of products and services and as such we felt they were very well placed to scale their business in the UK. We look forward to supporting the company in their future direction with regard to the UK and wish them continued success in the future.”

Having won the gold medal in India, Quidich travelled over to Birmingham for the finals of the competition at the end of July.

The finalists had been whittled down from the original 350 entrants. Over three days there was a pitching competition, networking opportunities at the Commonwealth Business Forum and culminating in the opening ceremony. 

Rahat Kulshreshtha, CEO of Quidich, added: “It’s such a proud moment to see the Quidich story that started as a college project in a garage a few years ago, now being recognised by the UK government for its impact and achievement in the sports broadcast industry.

“As we embark on the journey of scaling the organisation globally, the Scale Up Games was a fantastic opportunity to build new networks, understand the entrepreneurship culture and experience the government support for new companies coming to the UK.”

MotoGP announce results from largest ever global fan survey

Dorna Sports S.L and Motorsport Network today announced the key findings of the 2022 Global MotoGP™ Fan Survey.

Launched in June, the Global MotoGP™ Fan Survey was commissioned by MotoGP™, hosted and managed by Motorsport Network and analysed by Nielsen Sports, the global information, data, and measurement experts. Conducted in 14 languages across the Motorsport.com platforms and receiving feedback from 109,676 fans in 179 countries, it is by far the largest fan survey ever conducted in MotoGP™. 

The results show that MotoGP™ has built a very loyal fanbase with over 82% of fans following the sport for over six years, the highest of any series studied in Motorsport Network’s Global Fan Survey programme, and more than 82% of fans watch more than 15 races each season. Fans invested a total of 27,300 hours completing the survey, taking an average of nearly 15 minutes each.

The data show MotoGP™ is attracting new female fans, one-third of whom have been following the sport for less than five years. Female respondents were also significantly younger than their male counterparts with 56% of female fans aged 16-34, compared to 40% for male fans. However, a significant percentage (66%) of fans believe that the sport needs to do more to attract new fans. 

Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports: “The Global MotoGP™ Fan Survey, undertaken in partnership with Motorsport Network, has been true to its name with over 109,000 fans from 179 countries investing their time. We couldn’t be more proud of that response, nor of many of the answers they’ve given. We have a truly global and passionate fanbase. Put simply, we asked and our fans delivered.

We are proud to see fans are so positive about our racing, and they support the important initiatives we already have underway, such as the beginning of our new global era of zero carbon fuels in 2027. We are also delighted to see such committed interest from key demographics, such as the increasing – and dedicated – female fanbase for MotoGP™. We aim to open the doors to our sport as wide as possible, on track with the Road to MotoGP™ programme and off track as we continue our mission to grow the sport across all audiences and countries around the world.

We’re especially happy because the results show clear potential and give us targets we can use to define our next steps as we aim to make the sport even bigger. Everything we’ve learned will be invaluable in the decisions and directions we take going forward.”

Italy, France, the UK, Spain and the USA lead the way on responses. The European audience made up 65% of the total, with 19% from Asia and 13% from the Americas. MotoGP™ enjoys a very loyal audience, especially in the Europe and Asia-Pacific regions, where over 65% of fans have been following the sport for more than 10 years and over 80% for six years or more.

Reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo was voted the most popular MotoGP™ rider by 21.8% of all fans. The Frenchman featured in the top three of nearly half (49%) of all fans, rising to 56% among female fans. His support is highest among female fans and those aged 16-34. 

Marc Marquez is the second most popular rider. Although he only featured in the top three for 32% of all respondents, a high percentage of these fans also place him as their outright favourite. Globally, he is the most popular for 19.8% of all fans. Like Quartararo his support is stronger among female fans, and he is ranked top rider among fans aged 24-35.

Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia is ranked third in terms of popularity among fans worldwide, with Australian Jack Miller fourth. Bagnaia was the favourite of 11% of all respondents and is the most popular rider in Italy. What is notable in comparison with other series is that MotoGP™ fans are overwhelmingly ‘sport-first’, with over 75% supporting a number of teams and riders, rather than individual riders.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ and Ducati Lenovo Team were voted the fans’ favourite teams, albeit with a tiny margin of 1.4% separating them. Repsol Honda was third most popular and was the preferred choice among female respondents. 

Fans identified the top five brand attributes of MotoGP™ in the survey: Exciting, Competitive, Entertaining, World Class and Unpredictable, with 94% of fans saying that the sport provides exciting racing, 79% calling it the world’s most exciting racing and 71% saying that it features pioneering technology. 

James Allen, President of Motorsport Network: “A MotoGP™ fan survey on this scale has never been done before and it has been truly fascinating to work on this huge project, following on from the highly successful global surveys we conducted recently for Formula One and INDYCAR. MotoGP™ is the dominant global motorbike racing championship and I have loved it since I went as a child to see Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts battle it out at Silverstone. The series has a lot of strong fundamentals in place, with a dedicated audience that is growing among female fans and across new territories of the world. There is clearly a great opportunity for the sport to unlock new audiences for this most thrilling and unpredictable of motorsport disciplines.”

Other key findings
MotoGP™ fans are keen race attendees, with over 40% having been to a live race in the past five years. An impressive 24% of fans have travelled to experience a non-domestic race. Over 60% of all MotoGP™ fans considered the Italian GP at Mugello critical to the calendar, making it the top ranked race among fans; Assen (48%) and Phillip Island (37%) also scored strongly. Fans in the Netherlands are the most active race goers; with nearly three-quarters (73%) of Dutch fans attending a race in the past five years. Nearly three-quarters of all fans (74%) believe that MotoGP™ should feature more than 19 races in a season. 

The survey also took a deep dive into media platforms and how fans consume the sport. Globally more than 82% of MotoGP™ fans watch 15 or more races each year and TV still leads the way with 90% of fans preferring it as the platform for watching live races, with over 60% of fans viewing TV over the race weekend.  

Fan usage of the official MotoGP™ app is high at 41% worldwide, rising to 57% in the Americas. Outside of a race weekend social media and dedicated motorsport websites become the most used platforms for information. During a race weekend, Instagram is the most used social media platform, driven by particularly high (75%+) usage among female fans and those aged 16-24.

In terms of the sporting format and possible future changes, fans approve strongly of the introduction of rules to balance the performance of less competitive manufacturers (+60% net approval), particularly younger fans (16-34). The introduction of sustainable fuels is seen as a positive move for MotoGP™ (+46% net support); with strong support among female respondents and younger fans aged 16-34. As for race duration, 85% of fans want races to last between 40 minutes and 1 hour; with 70% preferring a race distance of 40-50 minutes – the current length of a MotoGP™ race

Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group complete transaction to combine BT Sport and Eurosport UK

Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group have today completed their transaction to form a 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) that combines the assets of BT Sport and Eurosport UK. 

The move brings together one of the most extensive line-ups of live sport coverage for fans in the UK & Ireland – including the Olympic Games, the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the Premier League, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC, Boxing, WWE, tennis Grand Slams, cycling Grand Tours and the winter sports World Cup season.

As work begins to develop the new sports offering for the UK & Ireland, BT Sport and Eurosport UK will retain their separate product propositions for a period of time. BT Sport and Eurosport UK customers can continue to enjoy the current sport offerings in all the same ways they do currently.  

Over time, the intention is to launch a new sports brand in the market and present this combined sports offering together with an entertainment offering from Warner Bros. Discovery.  

Marc Allera, Chairman of the JV and CEO BT’s Consumer division said: “As we enter our ninth season, today is day one of an exciting new chapter for BT Sport.  I am extremely proud of the teams and the established brand and broadcaster that BT Sport has become, and I look forward to working with Warner Bros. Discovery to create an exciting new sport TV offering for the UK.” 

Andrew Georgiou, board member of the JV and President and Managing Director, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: “Today marks the start of our journey to build a new sports destination for fans in the U.K and Ireland. Combining BT Sport and Eurosport U.K. together with Warner Bros. Discovery’s world-class and growing entertainment offering will result in an exciting new proposition for consumers. 

“It’s important for fans to know they can continue to enjoy BT Sport and Eurosport U.K. as they do today and we’ll keep them updated on future plans as soon as we can. We are pleased the transaction has closed and we can now further engage all stakeholders in the process of establishing the JV and developing its extensive combined sports offer.”

The JV’s Board of Directors is equally represented between appointees of British Telecommunications plc and Warner Bros. Discovery. The first Chairperson, nominated by each shareholder on a rotating basis, is Marc Allera, CEO BT’s Consumer division. Andrew Georgiou, President and Managing Director, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, is also a member of the board and will lead the business.

Manchester City and Inspiresport extend partnership

Inspiresport, a provider of youth sports development tours and Manchester City Football Club are delighted to announce an extension of their domestic partnership for the provision of school and youth group tours.

The new agreement will take the partnership between Inspiresport and the current English Premier League Champions into a tenth year following its commencement in 2016.

During that time, more than 200 groups have attended training sessions at the City Football Academy on the Etihad Campus, with over 5000 young players of all abilities participating in innovative practical sessions led by the programme’s coaching staff.

Steve Butchart, MD inspiresport Group said: “We’re obviously thrilled to announce this partnership extension and extend our relationship with the club. From post trip feedback received from our groups who have attended the programme, Manchester City are one of our top performing partners for all round sporting experience, quality of training sessions and expertise of the coaching staff. Add to that, the quality of the campus training facilities, the Manchester City tour option has a real appeal for groups wanting a taste of an elite sport environment.”

Jorgina Busquets, Managing Director, Football Education and Recreation, City Football Group, “We’re delighted to further extend our relationship with inspiresport today. Since the initiative started in 2015, we have seen thousands of young players from all over the world visit City Football Academy to train with us, learn our philosophy and develop for the future. We look forward to welcoming many more groups here for years to come”.

This new agreement between the two organisations will also incorporate the North American market for inspiresport to provide bespoke soccer training tours to Manchester City. High school and club teams from the USA and Canada will have the opportunity to travel to Manchester to participate in the fabulous football experience.

TCL Electronics start latest sponsorship with football stars

Today, TCL Electronics, one of the leading players in the global TV industry and a fast-growing consumer electronics company, unveiled the 2022 TCL football team at IFA Berlin. With four of the world’s top footballers on board as brand ambassadors, TCL is kicking off a global campaign that aims to inspire people to pursue greatness in their own lives.

The TCL line-up brings together an exceptional young midfielder from England Phil Foden; rising superstar and Spanish international player Pedri; remarkable top-performer Rodrygo, a winger for the Brazil national team; and Raphaël Varane, famed defender and a key player in the French national squad.

TCL will share messages and insights from the four football players in the lead up to the 2022 major football event starting in November and beyond through traditional and social media channels. TCL will also provide numerous opportunities for fans to engage with their idols in vivid new ways through exclusive content, signed merchandise and competitions, with prizes including a chance for lucky fans to talk to their hero.

Access their first joint video here.

“Having the chance to connect to fans worldwide and inspire them to greatness is a fantastic opportunity. I’m glad to have this possibility to associate myself with a brand like TCL, whose track record shows their dedication to providing top-quality experiences for our supporters.” explained Raphaël Varane.

“My passion for football comes from playing on the streets of Stockport with my mates and watching our idols on TV. I am excited to join the TCL family and together I hope we will inspire and connect the next generation to football.” said Phil Foden.

“Thrilled to have a chance to begin this new relationship with TCL. We all wish to provide positive experiences for fans and spread our passion for the sport, and as a TCL brand ambassador, I’m sure we can spread a positive sporting spirit that inspires our fans.” Pedri added.

“I’m happy to play a role as a TCL brand ambassador and collaborate with a company that places quality and inspiring individual greatness at the heart of their products.” indicated Rodrygo.

Frédéric Langin, Vice President Sales and Marketing of TCL Europe, said, “As some of the best players in the world today, Phil Foden, Pedri, Rodrygo and Raphaël Varane are renowned as generational talents that inspire on and off the pitch. TCL is passionate about inspiring our customers through sport and we are delighted to be able to help fans connect with these football greats and get inspired to recognize and nurture their own greatness.”