Goal.com Owners Footballco Acquire Calciomercato.com To Add To Portfolio

Footballco has acquired Italy’s leading digital football platform, CalcioMercato.com. The deal adds the business to Footballco’s current portfolio of global and local brands, including Goal, the world’s most popular digital football destination.

Footballco was formed in 2020, following the spinoff of DAZN’s leading football publishing division and subsequent majority investment by Integrated Media Company (IMC), an affiliate of US private equity giant TPG.

Through its current roster of football media brands, Footballco reaches more than 400 million football fans around the world each month, which will now be bolstered by CalcioMercato.com’s 12 million monthly visitors.

CalcioMercato.com will take Footballco’s existing position in the market, currently supported via Goal’s Italian edition and its distributed video player, to a new level in what is a strategic and growing digital economy, with Euro 2020’s newly crowned champions.

Juan Delgado, CEO of Footballco said: “This represents a strategic acquisition for us, not only making Footballco the top football platform in Italy, but also in complementing our domestic European footprint – the world’s largest digital football advertising market”.

“While CalcioMercato.com’s audience is sizable, it was important for us to complement and add to our engagement across the continent, now having local champion brands in Germany, Netherlands, UK and Italy, hosting three of the four most competitive and valuable football leagues in the world.

“We recognise that being number one both pan-regionally in Europe, but also domestically in top football markets, is key. Being able to offer brands and other partners both local and pan-regional opportunities to reach football fans, makes us the best option to engage with the sport.”

Carlo Pallavicino, founder, majority shareholder, publisher of Calciomercato.com said:

“Over the past 25 years Calciomercato.com has experienced constant growth and established itself as the daily reference point for millions of passionate football fans.

“Becoming part of Footballco means that we can build on these strong foundations and service both brands and our fans in ways that have not been possible before.

“It should not go unrecognised that the reason we are where we are today is because of the hard work and creativity of our CEO, Cosimo Baldini and the combination of experienced editorial leadership from our director and seasoned journalist, Stefano Agresti and the passion and dedication of our editorial staff.”

Advising on the acquisition were financial advisers Vitale and Co.

As well as being home to some of the biggest football media brands in the world, Footballco helps brands to find their voice in football by leveraging a global understanding of the modern fan.

Champions Hockey League Signs Two New Sponsorship Deals

The 2021/22 Champions Hockey League (CHL) season will welcome APK-Invest and mycasino as new sponsors when the competition begins on 26 August. The agreements were brokered by Infront, the league’s exclusive media and marketing partner.

APK-Invest, the national leader in large-scale agro-industrial production in the Ukraine, has been named an Official Sponsor, signing a three-year agreement. The deal provides APK-Invest with extensive brand exposure through traditional and digital activation opportunities across all rounds of the competition. This includes prominent advertising at all games such as under-ice presence (starting with the Playoffs), its logo on all official media backdrops and the CHL website plus advertising banners on the website and within the official CHL app.

Infront also secured mycasino, one of Switzerland’s first licensed online casinos, as an Official Sponsor for CHL games in Switzerland. The agreement allows mycasino to advertise at Swiss teams’ home games. Its logo will also feature on various highlight videos of Swiss teams published by CHL on Twitter geo-targeted to Switzerland plus other digital activations and rights. 

Swiss sports betting platform Sporttip has signed the first purely digital agreement with the CHL for the upcoming season. A custom-made Sporttip betting widget geo-targeted to Switzerland will be prominently placed on the CHL website and within the official CHL app so fans can see all live-odds of their favourite participating teams. Furthermore, Sporttip will be featured prominently in all game centres on the CHL website and within the CHL official app within Switzerland with a web banner at the heart of the action linking to Sporttip’s website.

Martin Baumann, CEO of the Champions Hockey League, said: “We are proud to welcome APK-Invest and mycasino to the CHL family. Both brands are leaders in their markets and are known for producing and offering innovative products and services of the highest quality, sharing the attributes that the CHL brings to European ice hockey. The brands’ inclusions are perfect examples of the CHL and Infront’s enthusiasm to expand the competition into new markets, reaching new fan bases, opening new commercial doors and continuously developing European ice hockey.”

It means both brands join GT Radial as new Official Sponsors after the tyre manufacturer recently signed a three-year agreement. GT Radial has made digital a primary focus, using CHL’s fast-growing online and social media activity to improve its presence in Europe. It will also leverage onsite activations with fans, creating money-cannot-buy experiences when possible. 

The new sponsors join the existing network of long-term partners, including the Official Presenting Sponsor Engelbert Strauss, Europe’s leading workwear and utility brand, presenting a complete rebranding in its seventh season. Furthermore, Official Sponsor Škoda and Official Partners LGT and Warrior have been using the CHL and its popular digital platforms for several seasons. 

Michael Witta, Infront Vice President Marketing Sales and Services said: “This is a perfect example of how we have worked with the CHL to expand into new markets and secure new sponsorship deals on top of the valuable commitment of our long-term partners. All brands hold the values of performance, precision, and speed very highly, underlining the synergies between them and the CHL, paving the way for further cooperation.”

GAISF Opens Host City Selection Process For Various World Multi-Sport Games

GAISF has launched the host city selection process for future editions of various world multi-sport events, including the World Urban Games, World Combat Games and World Mind Games.

The world multi-sport events bring the best of sport to host cities, driving global exposure and creating the perfect bridge between elite sport and local communities.

GAISF and SportAccord President Raffaele Chiulli said: “We are delighted to open the host city selection process for future multi-sport Games. All of these events bring the best of sport to the heart of a city, while engaging with youth communities through inspiring initiatives to encourage greater participation in physical activity.

“We are also excited to be working with SportAccord from an operational perspective on the delivery of these various events. SportAccord has extensive experience in the organisation of world-class events and a thorough understanding of the global sports community and multi-sport event landscape.”

Following the successful inaugural 2019 edition of the GAISF World Urban Games in Budapest, GAISF has scheduled a second edition for 2023. The initial version included BMX freestyle, inline roller freestyle, parkour, breaking, 3×3 basketball and freestyle flying disc, together with laser run and indoor rowing. The World Urban Games places sport at the heart of a family-friendly city-centre festival that also includes music and art.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was recently selected as the next host of the World Combat Games with Riyadh set to become the beating heart of martial arts combat sports in 2023. Finally, the World Mind Games are a multi-sport event centred on the gymnasium of the mind and highlighting the great value of the mind sports.

City representatives who want to learn more should not hesitate to contact GAISF Director and SportAccord Managing Director Nis Hatt at nis.hatt@sportaccord.com

Sigma Sports Appointed Official Retail Partner For Tour Of Britain And Women’s Tour

Sigma Sports will partner with the Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour in 2021 as the Official Retail Partner to Britain’s leading professional cycling events.

The partnership will begin with the upcoming Tour of Britain that begins in Cornwall on Sunday 5 September and include the Women’s Tour (4 – 9 October).  The agreement builds on the success of the partnership at the last running of both events in 2019, which saw Sigma Sports producing behind the scenes content from both events across their channels.

Sigma Sports will also present the Sigma Sports Points jersey in the Women’s Tour, awarded to the race’s most consistent finisher.

Commenting on the announcement, Sigma Sports Managing Director Ian Whittingham said, “We are incredibly proud to be supporting the Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour in 2021. For a number of years there has been a close affinity with Sigma Sports and the British racing scene, so to actively be partnering with two of the biggest races in the UK is a huge honour for us.”

Through the partnership with Britain’s leading professional cycle races Sigma Sports will receive branding, hospitality and activation rights across the Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour, in addition to exclusive content opportunities at both events for their popular social media platforms.

Miles Rose, Commercial Director for race organisers SweetSpot said; “We are delighted to announce we are partnering with UK cycling retail experts Sigma Sports, as our official Retail Partner for the Tour of Britain, and to be our Points Jersey Partner for the Women’s Tour. Thanks to Ian and the Sigma Sports team for supporting our events this year, coming out of the past two years of no events it means the world to us.”

This year’s Tour of Britain begins in Cornwall on Sunday 5 September, and includes a team time trial in Carmarthenshire (stage three), hill-top finish on the Great Orme, Llandudno (stage four) and a first-ever finish in Edinburgh (stage seven). The 2021 champion will be crowned in Aberdeen on Sunday 12 September. Live coverage will be available on ITV4 in the UK, as well as in over 150 countries worldwide.

Boost Drinks Becomes Official Global Partner Of Leeds United

Boost Drinks, Leeds based leading functional drinks brand, has announced an exciting agreement with Leeds United FC to become the ‘Official Energy Drinks Partner’ of the club for the 21/22 football season.

The partnership will see two energetic and ambitious local Yorkshire brands come together, in front of a huge audience both nationally and globally, with Leeds United experiencing the fastest growing digital following in the whole of the Premier League last season.  With Boost drinks huge growth agenda and Leeds United recent return to the premiership, following a 16 year absence, there has never been a more exciting time for the two brands to partner up, as fans return to the stadium following a difficult period during Covid 19.

As the new Official Energy Drinks Partner, Boost Drinks will be promoted throughout Elland Road and the Thorp Arch Training Ground, with a range of Boost products available on matchdays at the stadium and at the official Leeds United retail stores.

The new deal will see Boost branding through the LED advertisement boards around the pitch and advertising on the big screen and billboards outside of the ground. The Boost Drinks logo will also appear on the media backdrops used for interview opportunities with Marcelo Bielsa and the first-team squad.

The new agreement will involve a range of other initiatives, including fan and player activations with Boost appearing on Leeds United digital content to further promote the brand on both a national and global scale.

Founded in Leeds in 2001, Boost Drinks is the third largest selling energy stimulation brand. As well as their popular energy drink range featuring a wide range of flavours, Boost also hold the 2nd largest selling range of isotonic sports drinks, as well as ready-to-drink iced coffee and flavoured protein shakes. Earlier this year, Boost also secured a partnership with brewery Hall & Woodhouse to take on full responsibility for the sales, marketing and distribution of the Rio soft drinks brand’.

Simon Gray, Founder and CEO, at Boost Drinks and lifelong Leeds United fan, said: “Leeds United are a huge Premier League club with a global fanbase, including some of the most passionate supporters in the industry. We recognise that we share a similar value set with Leeds United, we are both brave and ambitious challenger brands and are enjoying strong achievements. It’s an honour to be able to associate ourselves with such a prestigious club steeped in history.

“The Boost brand and our portfolio have gone from strength-to-strength with us celebrating our 20th Anniversary this year. We are confident that our work with the club will help further increase our brand awareness, as well as provide the national and international fanbase of this brilliant club with some unique opportunities to get involved in throughout the coming months.”

Paul Bell, Executive Director at Leeds United, added: “We are delighted to announce our new partnership with Boost Drinks at the start of another exciting season in the Premier League. Boost is a strong challenger brand within its sector and shares similar values to the Club and we are looking forward to working with and supporting Boost on the next phase of it’s brand growth both in the UK and Internationally.  The club are looking forward to welcoming supporters back to Elland Road after a challenging 18 months away and we’re thrilled they’ll now be able to purchase Boost Drinks around the stadium on matchdays.

Extreme E Increases Global Reach With Extended DAZN Deal

Electric SUV motorsport series, Extreme E, has announced today that it is extending its partnership with global sports streaming platform DAZN.

DAZN, which already airs Extreme E’s events in Japan, will carry the live and on-demand streaming of the championship’s X Prix events as well as the magazine programme, preview and review shows – in English – to its rest of the world territories.*

DAZN is the world’s leading sports streaming platform. Created in 2016 by fans for fans, it leads the change to give affordable access to sport anytime, anywhere. DAZN is available on internet-connected devices, including smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, game consoles, streaming sticks and set-up boxes. In December 2020, DAZN expanded to become available in more than 200 countries and territories, reinforcing the commitment to become a global sports destination platform.

Ali Russell, Chief Marketing Officer at Extreme E said: “I am delighted to be bringing Extreme E to so many more territories through our extended partnership with DAZN. As a sport without spectators on site, it is vital for us to reach as many people as possible and the best way to do this is through a screen.

“As a premium OTT platform, DAZN is hugely valuable to us in developing a youth orientated audience which is an incredibly important market to our championship. We know that DAZN’s key audiences are particularly passionate about issues surrounding equality and the environment, both of which are key pillars of Extreme E. We look forward to bringing more thrilling action to DAZN, as well as the wider messages surrounding electrification, environment and equality.”

Tom Burrows, EVP Rights Strategy, DAZN, said: “This new agreement extends our successful partnership with Extreme E, a truly special motosport experience, to DAZN subscribers around the world. The continued focus around the environment and equality in sport is what sets Extreme E apart from other racing competitions and we are extremely proud to showcase these small steps towards big change on our platform.”

The inaugural X Prix – the Desert X Prix – took place in Saudi Arabia in April highlighting the effects of desertification, followed by the Ocean X Prix in Senegal at the end of May which focussed on ocean health and issues surrounding rising sea level and plastic pollution. Next stop is Kangerlussuaq in Greenland for the Arctic X Prix, which takes place this weekend (28-29 August), and will highlight glacial retreat and how that impacts our planet, followed by the Island X Prix in Sardinia on 23-24 October, with the fifth and final X Prix location of Season 1 to be confirmed.

Through a variety of Legacy Programmes, the series will leave a long-lasting positive impact to support communities surrounding the areas in which it races, including turtle conservation along the Red Sea coastline,  planting one million mangroves in Senegal – the best natural defence against rising sea level as well as being a huge carbon store – plus a climate education programme for young people in Greenland in collaboration with UNICEF.

LDN UTD Sign Female Creator “Miss Baffy”

LDN UTD  has today announced that Ella “Miss Baffy” Skinner has joined the LDN UTD family. Baffy is renowned as one of the largest UK League of Legends content creators with over 140k following across social media. Baffy joins LDN UTD as a content creator to grow her brand and work with LDN UTD on raising awareness around LDN UTD and its purpose driven values, alongside the development of talent in the UK grassroots community.

Baffy is not one to shy away from stating her point of view, and will also be a focal point for educational and informative content and conversation relating to being a marginalised gender in the sector, and how to deal with day to day toxicity, with a view to making a difference. This will support ongoing LDN UTD initiatives working with outreach partners including Action Breaks Silence, Shadow To Shine, Rio Ferdinand Foundation and later in the year NSPCC.

Oliver Weingarten, CEO of LDN UTD said, “We’re excited to partner with Baffy. She has long been one of the most recognisable names, voices and faces within the UK League of Legends scene, as well as a strong voice of representation for women in the sector.” 

Ella “Miss Baffy” Skinner said, “I am really excited to join LDN UTD. We both align on the same goals, and the support network to grow as a creator and ensure my voice is heard, is invaluable. An understanding of my direction and goals has always been important, and in LDN UTD I’m confident that I have found the right partner, to grow, and also continue to ensure LDN UTD’s messaging is heard”.

Aston Villa Is Pleased To Unveil Monster Energy As The Club’s New Official Energy Drink Partner

Monster Energy was founded in 2002 and is now distributed in over 140 markets worldwide with a range of products to match and has several high-profile partnerships in a variety of sports. It is a global brand with a huge following that believes in authenticity and the core of what its sports, athletes and musicians represent.

Monster Energy’s ethos is to not only provide quality energy drinks, but also to support a way of life lived by athletes, sports, musicians and fans. The two-year partnership will see Monster Energy, the market leading US energy drinks company, promote its brand across the Club’s channels and engage with the Club’s global fanbase.

Aston Villa Chief Commercial Officer Nicola Ibbetson said: “We are delighted to welcome Monster Energy to Aston Villa as the Club’s Official Energy Drink Partner. Monster Energy is a global brand who are dedicated to enhancing the world for both athletes and fans. We look forward to working them over the next two years.”

Jimmy Goodrich, SVP Marketing Monster Energy EMEA commented: “We’re incredibly proud to be able to announce our partnership with Aston Villa and look forward to bringing that same sense of excitement to the wider fanbase. Like them, we’re longing to step back into capacity stadiums as soon as possible and are excited about how we work with the Club and the fans, both in the UK and abroad, to bring everyone closer together whether digitally or in person.”

ELEVEN Belgium To Partner With Serie A For Three More Seasons

ELEVEN will continue to bring Serie A LIVE and EXCLUSIVELY to fans in Belgium until 2023/24, following the completion of a new three-year deal.  

The agreement was brokered by Infront, Serie A’s exclusive international media rights partner. 

ELEVEN Belgium has been the home of Serie A since the platform’s launch in 2015 – bringing audiences comprehensive coverage of Italy’s top league across its linear and digital channels. The new deal further cements ELEVEN’s long standing partnership with Serie A, at a time when the Italian top tier has a stronger Belgian following than ever. 

As well as being home to the Euro 2020 champions and a host of iconic clubs and players, Serie A boasts a significant Belgian contingent. Alexis Saelemaekers (AC Milan), Dries Mertens (Napoli) and Daan Heymans (Venezia) all ply their trade in Italy, alongside a number of young and emerging Belgian players. 

Guillaume Collard, ELEVEN Belgium & Luxembourg Managing Director and ELEVEN Group Chief Rights Acquisitions Officer, said:  “The ELEVEN Group has a long history of collaboration with Serie A and this deal further strengthens our partnership. Serie A is one of the strongest competitions in Europe and the fact there is an important Belgian dimension to the league makes it even more attractive to our audience. We’re delighted to continue to be bringing the best of Italian football to fans for another three seasons.”

The deal bolsters ELEVEN Belgium’s leading portfolio of football rights. Audiences can enjoy live and exclusive coverage of LaLiga, Bundesliga and the FA Cup with ELEVEN, alongside top international football and all the action from the domestic Belgian game. 

COPA90 Appoints First Head Of Cryptomedia

COPA90 has announced the appointment of Petrit Berisha in the newly created role of Head of Cryptomedia.

Petrit joins after consulting and building out various projects in media, sports, financial services and the blockchain space. He’s a multi award winning podcast producer, best known for his former production of the podcast ‘Blockchain Insider,’ by financial services consultancy 11:FS.

Over the past few years, Cryptocurrencies, and more specifically NFTs, have encroached on our lives across several facets. Art, gaming and music have already been, and will continue to be, disrupted by blockchain technology. The sporting world is no different. This is a new paradigm for media, which the sporting content world will need to evolve with.

This nascent technology plays a role in fan engagement as football fans discover new ways to engage with their passion in a digital way.

Over the last year, NBA topshots, Sorare and Socios, to name a few, have become some of the biggest projects in the Cryptocurrency space. The reimagination of fan engagement with sports clubs – as well as the media that it is enveloped by – is going to be heavily impacted by blockchain technology in the future.

When COPA90 was created in 2012, they took the view that the future of football media was about to change forever. Almost 10 years on and they  are readying themselves for the next great shift. COPA90 believes that the future of fan engagement will look very different in five years and that they have a big role to play within this.

Petrit Berisha, said: “COPA90 are leaders in the football media space, creating exciting and interesting content for football fans around the world as well as incredible brands. I’m looking forward to joining them as they enter this new paradigm of fan engagement, creator economies and media.”

Tom Thirlwall, CEO of COPA90 said: “We believe that the next iteration of fan engagement and media will be impacted massively by Blockchain technology – from ticketing and experiences to content and way beyond what is currently being imagined. We are very excited about Petrit’s appointment and the potential that exists for COPA90 in this space.”