With under a month to go until the world of football once again congregates in Rio, and Soccerex is delighted to announce that three of the most experienced men in world football, ed David Dein, Paul Breitner and Gérard Houllier will be speaking at the Soccerex Global Convention in Rio de Janeiro on 24-28 November.

Whether you’re challenging for continental honours or trying to avoid relegation, the recruitment and development of players and coaches will always be crucial to any club. The ‘Building To Win: The Art of Developing Talent’ session will uncover the secrets to nurturing talent on the pitch, as well as guiding players off the pitch to become ultimate professionals. The panel will include former president of G14 and former Vice Chairman of the English FA David Dein and 1974 FIFA World Cup^TM winner and current FC Bayern Munich brand ambassador Paul Breitner. They will be speaking alongside Gérard Houllier, ex-Technical Director of the French Football Federation and the man widely acclaimed as the mind behindClairefontaine which, under his guidance, produced World Cup and European Championship winning teams.

The three legends will join a host of industry figures speaking at the event including FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke, CBF President and 2014 LOC Chairman José Maria Marin,England National Manager Roy Hodgson, world-renowned football agent Pini Zahavi, FIFA Head of Player Status Omar Ongaro, Global Head of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship at VISA Ricardo Fort, senior representatives from the two goal line technology systems licensed by FIFA and Senior Director, Sports, EMEA YouTube Stephen Nuttall amongst many others.

Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie commented: “It’s an honour to welcome David, Paul and Gérard to this year’s Soccerex Global Convention in what will be a stand out session at the event. They will be able to provide an expert analysis on player and coach development which will provide all of the attendees with an in-depth look at the secrets behind emerging talent. Despite Soccerex being the leading business to business football event, we don’t lose sight on the fact that football comes down to what happens on the pitch. ”

The Soccerex Global Convention is a five-day business event consisting of a comprehensive seminar line-up, a number of networking opportunities, a two-day football festival and a packed exhibition which is already close to selling out.

Held in a purpose-built venue within the Forte de Copacabana, with panoramic views of both the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, the exhibition is a hub for business activity; as one of the main components of the convention it provides a platform for leading suppliers from around the world to showcase the latest industry products and services to delegates.

For further information about this event please call +44 (0)208742 7100 or visit www.soccerex.com/global.

 

 

Russia officially pulled out of the race to host the 2022 World Cup finals, discount with the aim of solely concentrating on their bid for 2018.

“Russia is setting its sights exclusively on being awarded the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup and has formally withdrawn its bid for the 2022 edition of the world’s biggest and most important single sports event, ampoule ” the Russian bid committee said in a statement.

“We hope to be entrusted with the hosting of FIFA’s flagship event and are ready to inspire the global football family in 2018,” the statement quoted Russia’s bid chairman and the country’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko as saying.

Russia and England are bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup along with joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands while Japan, South Korea, Qatar, United States and Australia are candidates for 2022.

Last week, England officially withdrew from bidding for the 2022 tournament after the United States had pulled out of the running for the 2018 event, making certain it would be held in Europe. FIFA rules prohibit successive World Cups being staged on the same continent.

Soccer’s governing body is due to announce the winning bids in Zurich on Dec. 2.

The bidding process has been overshadowed by allegations of vote-selling, with two members of FIFA’s executive committee, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, being provisionally suspended for 30 days. — Reuters

Zvi Varshaviak has announced he will step down as the president of the Olympic Committee of Israel following 16 years at the helm of the organisation.

The 74-year-old has held the position almost consecutively since 1996, search but will make way for his successor next month, with Igal Carmi and Arye Zaif the early favorites, while former Israel Yachting Association chairman, Yehuda Ma’ayan, has also announced his intention to run for one of the top jobs in Israeli sports.

“I inherited an Olympic Committee which was worthless,” said a proud Varshaviak at a press conference at OCI headquarters in Hadar Yosef on Monday.

“Today we have organized institutions, wonderful staff, good athletes and money.

Therefore I will end my reign as chairman on February 10.”

Varshaviak pinpointed the lack of active athletes in Israel as the main problem in local sports.

“We have 71,000 active athletes in the country and half of them are soccer and basketball players,” he said. “If we want to record achievements we need to prepare an infrastructure for sports so that around 10 percent of the population will be active athletes.”

The announcement that Pernilla Wiberg has joined the Annecy 2018 bid committee to help promote the project around the world was made global at the bid’s official presentation at the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Assembly in Acapulco, arthritis Mexico.

A member of the IOC from 2002 to 2010, the Swedish skier boasts an exceptional career record, having taken Olympic golds in the giant slalom at Albertville in 1992 and the combined at Lillehammer in 1994, and a downhill silver at the Nagano Games in 1998; and World Championship titles in the giant slalom in 1991, slalom in 1996, and in the combined in 1996 and 1999, silver in the slalom in 1999 and a downhill bronze in 1997. Wiberg was overall winner of the World Cup in 1997 and has 24 World Cup victories in the five events and 61 podium finishes to her name.

“I found the Annecy plans very appealing,” said Wiberg. “I had never come across a bid that gave such serious consideration to the opinions of sportsmen and sportswomen. I like the proposed tightly-knit network of sites, and I love this wonderful, perfectly-sized town. This is what the Olympic Winter Games needs.”

The seven-team tournament, which was first contested in 2000 and has been held each year since 2005, features the club champions from each of FIFA’s six continental confederations along with the host nation’s national champions.

The tournament will be played over eight match days from December 11- 21 and Fox Sports will deliver live, uninterrupted and High Definition coverage of all eight matches including the final.

The 2013 tournament is headlined by UEFA Champions League winners Bayern Munich (Germany) and CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores champions Atletico Mineiro (Brazil), as well as recent AFC Champions League victors Guangzhou Evergrande (China).

The opening match will feature hosts Raja Casablanca (Morocco) against OFC Champions League winners Auckland City FC (New Zealand) on December 11.

Fox Sports CEO, Patrick Delany, commented on the new deal: “It’s going to be a fantastic summer for football fans on Foxtel with every game of the Hyundai A-League and Barclays Premier League continuing throughout the summer months as well as La Liga and the FIFA Club World Cup on Fox Sports and the UEFA Champions League over on ESPN.”

“The success of football as the “it” sport of the summer and the fact that we have the best team steering our coverage has led to really strong ratings.”

Previous winners of the FIFA Club World Cup include English giants Manchester United (2008) and Spanish kings Barcelona who lifted the trophy in 2009 and 2011.

Jason Cahilly has been appointed the new chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president of strategy of the National Basketball Association.

The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) partner will report to Adam Silver, medicine the NBA’s deputy commissioner who takes over the top job in February 2014. He will begin work on Jan. 14, symptoms according to the NBA, prostate which has annual revenue of more than $5 billion.

“He is a proven leader with deep financial and strategic experience across the media and entertainment industry,” Silver said in a statement.

Cahilly spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs. He succeeds Carol Sawdye, who left the league to become the chief financial officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.