Chantal Petitclerc, one of Canada’s most decorated athletes of all time, has been appointed Team Canada’s Chef de Mission for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

The only Canadian athlete to win gold medals at Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic Games, Petitclerc holds world records in three different wheelchair racing events.

“I have such a strong attachment to the Commonwealth Games, dating all the way back to 1990 when I was a silver medalist in Auckland, New Zealand-the first time that events for elite athletes with a disability were included on the sport programme,” said Petitclerc, whose appointment was announced today on CBC’s Sports Day in Canada broadcast. “In 2006, I was honoured to serve as Team Canada’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. It was truly one of the highlights of my career.”

Petitclerc also has two 800-metre gold medals from the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England (2002) and Melbourne (2006). Her trophy case includes a staggering 21 Paralympic medals (including 14 gold) and the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian athlete of the year.

“There are so many reasons to be thrilled with Chantal’s appointment as our Chef de Mission in Glasgow,” added Dr. Andrew Pipe, President of Commonwealth Games Canada. “A former flag bearer, multiple medalist, and someone with a deep appreciation for the athlete experience at the highest levels of international competition. Not to mention the fact that Glasgow 2014 will feature more events for elite athletes with a disability than any previous Commonwealth Games.”

Dr. Pipe went on to praise Petitclerc’s proven abilities as a spokesperson and motivational speaker. “Should Canada decide to launch a bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Chantal will most certainly be one of our most influential ambassadors,” he said.

Petitclerc will assume her duties immediately in preparation for a first site visit that is expected to take place in February.

The African continent has produced an amazing list of players that have graced football’s biggest stages in recent years such as Yaya Touré, Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor, Frédéric Kanouté and Nwankwo Kanu with many more plying their trade in leagues across Europe and the rest of the World. But what does the career path of today’s African stars look like? For every player making it to a top European league, how many players are left behind?

Soccerex will be tackling these issues as part of an in-depth panel on the Lifecycle of an African player for the inaugural Soccerex Seminar Lagos, 27–28 September 2012.

The panel will dissect these issues and discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the next generation of African talent with an expert group of speakers that will include Anthony Baffoe, the Founder and General Secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana. Anthony has enjoyed a successful and popular football career during his time in the German Bundesliga playing for FC Köln and Fortuna Düsseldorf. He also played for Ghana at the African Cup of Nations in 1992 and 1994. Besides his role at the PFA in Ghana, he holds various functions for CAF and FIFA including as FIFA ambassador against racism.

Joining him will be a representative from the Congolese giant Tout Puissant Mazembe. TP Mazembe has reached international fame by becoming the first African club to make it to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2010 by beating Internacional of Brazil. They were the first club outside of the powerhouses of Europe and South America to make it to the final.

Scandinavia, well-known for brining talented players from abroad, nurturing them and moving them on to the larger stages of Europe, will be represented by Rolf Magne Walstad, the Sporting Director at Brann Bergen. The club is known for its track record of identifying talent from Africa and currently have Kim Ojo, Bentley Akabueze and Oumar Niasse in their ranks. Rolf himself has a deep understanding on African football and was Sporting Director at FC Lyn Oslo when they signed Nigerian John Obi Mikel who went on to gain 160 appearances for Chelsea.

They will be joined by Marko Saranlinna, an established FIFA Player Agent from Finland who has in particular worked with young African players searching for a way towards European club football for more than 10 years.

The session will be part of an agenda designed to promote industry best practice and highlight the growth potential of the region. The conference line up for the event will address key regional and international issues such as Football in West Africa, The Business of Football, Doing Business in West Africa and Social responsibility.

For more information on the Soccerex Seminar Lagos please go to www.soccerex.com/lagos.

Goodform, adiposity a CRM Agency which helps sports organisations maximise the value of their data, symptoms | have announced the appointment of Michael Jones, who will fill the newly created role of CRM Services Director.

Michael comes to Goodform with an impressive background in the football industry, having operated across Premiership, Championship and League One clubs.  Within these hugely varied environments, Michael has experienced success, both commercially and operationally, particularly in the areas of retail, ticketing and CRM.

Michael spent 16 years working for Watford FC where he rose from Head of Ticketing to Head of Business, taking strategic leadership of all senior managers across the commercial and operational business functions, including Ticketing, Retail and CRM.  During his time at Vicarage Road he implemented sales growth, data management, CRM integrations and transformed retail and catering areas along with managing the corporate delivery.

Prior to joining Goodform Michael undertook a 6 month consultancy project with Sheffield United FC where he developed a cross departmental five year plan and adapted systems and processes to ensure that data analysis and usage supported the club’s commercial growth objective alongside the customers’ needs.

Michael is joining Goodform, the UK’s leading sports CRM agencies, at an important and exciting time for the company.  Having recently passed its 10 year anniversary, Goodform is entering a period of extensive growth and will benefit greatly from Michael’s commercial experience, understanding of the importance of customer service, and his staff management skills as we continue to grow our business and our team.

Alison Dalrymple, Managing Director of Goodform, said: “We are delighted to welcome Michael to Goodform as we continue to expand the company and our client base. The wealth of commercial acumen and insight that Michael brings from his successful career in the football industry, coupled with his passion and knowledge of CRM in the sports world, will continue to ensure that our clients receive the highest level of service and support.”

Commenting on his new role, Michael, said, “I’m very happy to be taking on this new challenge at such an exciting time for Goodform. Having worked within the sports industry for many years I’ve experienced first-hand the importance of embedding the core principles of CRM to grow business profitability whilst driving the engagement satisfaction of customers. I look forward to working closely with our many clients and hope to be able to bring the relevant experience to enable Goodform to build on its excellent reputation of first class delivery.”

Over the past ten years Goodform has worked with many football clubs on their CRM, ticketing, membership and marketing activities including Manchester City FC, Swindon Town FC, QPR FC, Everton FC Tottenham Hotspur FC plus many more.

Now in it’s 7th year, site we are delighted to announce that Future Sponsorship will move to Istanbul, physician Turkey, taking place on 28-29 November.

After winning the title of European Capital of Culture 2010, Istanbul has been crowned European Capital of Sport for 2012.

Supported by our host partners, Turkish Airlines and Euroleague Basketball, Future Sponsorship will address the major challenges in the sponsorship world and will gather high level brands, rights holders and agencies to shape the future of the sponsorship industry.

2011 saw over 200 participating companies including; Yingli, Deloitte, Diageo, Randstad Deutschland, FIFA, IEG, ING Group, O2, Coca Cola, Paddy Power, The FA, Cirque Du Soleil, Lloyds Banking Group, IMG, Turkish Airlines, The Premier League, Fulham FC, AVIVA, Lawn Tennis Association, Heineken, Adidas and more.

> View Website
> Request Brochure
> Join our Linked In Group

NEW for 2012

This year we will be revamping the Future Sponsorship programme,introducing new high level, engaging and motivating speakers, as well as including interactive sessions and new networking formats to ensure you get the best value across the two days. Delegates will be able to unwind after the conference in a more informal environment during our networking evening drinks reception on 28th November.

Interested in finding our more?

If you are interested in attending and receiving news about this year’s event early, please register your interest here. This will ensure that you can avail our early bird rates and be kept up to date with all the latest news on the conference.

Your participation and feedback

Would you like to participate in Future Sponsorship 2012, or have any ideas and feedback on what and who you would like to see at the event? Please feel free to get in touch with me at sally.nastys@informasportsgroup.com or visit our website www.future-sponsorship.com

German public service broadcaster ARD and premium sports portal SPOX.com have agreed to broadcast all preliminary round fixtures of the EuroBasket 2013.

ARD will show three Germany games in the tournament and premium sports portal SPOX.com will complement the coverage by showing two further games.

Germany have been drawn in Group A against France, Belgium, Ukraine, Great Britain and Israel.

ARD will broadcast additional games of the German team depending on their qualification to the second stage, while SPOX.com’s comprehensive coverage includes one live top game per day for the entire tournament as well as daily video highlights and interviews.

EuroBasket 2013 will be staged in Slovenia from 4-22 September.

West Ham United’s potential Olympic Stadium move will be consulted by fans following an emergency meeting of their Supporter Advisory Board (SAB) on Tuesday.

The club were recently named as the No.1 choice to move into the £429m venue and they will now give their fans the chance to air their views.

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) made the announcement last week, although there are a number of loose ends to sort out before the deal is finally completed.

The SAB will discuss the LLDC’s decision at Tuesday’s emergency meeting which will be attended by vice-chairman Karren Brady, joint-chairman David Gold and ex-West Ham striker Tony Cottee.

A statement on the club’s official website reads: “The LLDC decision represents a huge step forward but, as the club has stated throughout, highest-ranked bidder status does not mean that West Ham have at this stage agreed to the move and it remains the case that we will only do so if the final proposal is right for the club and its supporters.

“The time for supporters to have their voices heard is now and a more intensive consultation process will commence on Tuesday evening.

“The club will consult with SAB members to agree how the club takes that consultation process forward.

“The club stands by its commitment to conduct full supporter consultation regarding the proposed move, including the polling of supporters.

“West Ham fans can be confident that wherever there is an opportunity for West Ham to input in the decisions going forward, supporters will be at the forefront.”