1. TPI in the football industry is where a football club does not own, or is not entitled to, 100% of the future transfer value of a player that is registered to play for that team.  There are numerous models for third party player agreements but the basic premise is that companies, businesses and/or individuals provide football clubs or players with money in return for owning a percentage of a player’s future transfer value.  This transfer value is also commonly referred to as a player’s economic rights. There are instances where entities will act as speculators by purchasing a percentage share in a player directly from a club in return for a lump sum that the club can then use as it wishes.

2. The Premier League, Football League, Football Association, the Polish and French leagues have all implemented regulations to prohibit TPI in their leagues. There appears to be a growing tide of opinion against TPI. The original prohibition regulations in the Premier League came as a result of the Tevez affair where a third party owner had the contractual right to force West Ham to sell the player if a suitable bid was received. This was against the current regulations that were in place at the time. Subsequently, the Premier League tightened its regulations to prohibit any type of TPI. Other leagues swiftly followed.

3. Within the last year, UEFA and the global players union FIFPro have suggested that TPI should be banned and FIFA has suggested at the very least that the activity should be more tightly regulated.

4. The European Club Association appears  very much sat on the fence at the present with some clubs like Porto strongly in favour of TPI. It is argued that TPI provides an additional source of funding to clubs who can then share the transfer risk with an external investment company. The degree to which certain federations have an appetite to deal with TPI and how quickly such regulations could be put in place still however remains to be seen.

5. UEFA’s latest position appears to be that, in the coming years, it will not allow players that are third party owned to play in their Champions League and Europa League competition. That would theoretically not prohibit clubs from signing and playing third party owned players in domestic competition (unless there are domestic prohibitions like in the Premier League, Football League, Ligue 1 or Polish league). UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino has said UEFA “will certainly look into” the possibility of banning third party-owned players from UEFA competitions and that “this kind of player ownership is a growing threat”.

6. Current FIFA Rule Article 18bis of FIFA’s Rules on the Status and Transfer of Players states that: “No club shall enter into a contract which enables any other party to that contract or any third party to acquire the ability to influence in employment and transfer related matters its independence, its policies or the performance of its teams.” This is not a specific ban on TPI but a ban on a third party owner from influencing a club’s employment or transfer related matters.

7. The probable reason why FIFA may be less likely to implement an outright ban is because in countries like Spain and Portugal and especially South America TPI is prevalent.  Outlawing such a practice would be both politically and practically difficult.  This is in contrast to the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League prohibition position. The rationale is that it is evidently easier for national associations to implement TPI prohibition rules with narrower scope, than it would be for FIFA.

8. With UEFA looking to ban players who are third party owned from playing in their club tournaments, many are questioning whether regulation of the practice rather than an outright ban would be preferable. In addition, some believe that it is not a ban but total transparency of the arrangements that is required.  This could even be expanded to include a list of the owners of such transfer rights.  Such transparency could allow the football family to scrutinise any potential conflicts of interest between, for example, those who own the economic rights of a player and those who also own a stake in a football club.

9. If such a TPI prohibition for UEFA competition was to be enacted, another question for UEFA to consider would be whether the provisions would have retrospective effect.  If so, many clubs would effectively have to ‘buy-back’ the registrations of players who wanted to play in UEFA competition.  Many would argue that would be unreasonable for contracts entered into prior to any proposed rule change.  If the proposed rule did not have retrospective effect, clubs who had third party owned players would still have the benefit of being able to play them in UEFA competition but would not be able to register new players.  Such uneven regulation would be far from ideal but a transitional period would no doubt be required.

10. Listen to my latest podcast on TPI with the fantastic football website www. BeyondthePitch.net  here.

Daniel Geey, Associate in the Competition and EU Regulatory Group at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP.

Daniel has provided advice and presentations on a whole raft of football related issues and can offer industry specific legal advice on football takeovers, Premier League, Football Association, UEFA, FIFA, FFP and more.

Check out Daniel’s blog, ‘The Final Score on Football Law’ here >> and follow Daniel on Twitter here >>

Please feel free to get in touch with Daniel Geey should you or your club have any questions concerning the regulations.

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Across sports and nations, sport federations often support or manage admirable projects that evolve around creating social change for underprivileged children through educational approaches to doing sport. Yet, some projects are more successful than others in sustaining, scaling and replicating impact. The critical management challenge seems to be getting the funding model right.

This eighth contribution of mine for iSportconnect’s expert column on sport governance offers perspectives on the case of Colombianitos, a foundation in Colombia that engages underprivileged children in doing football, badminton, table tennis, dance and other sports and activities as a vehicle for generating social change. The contribution especially focuses on management practices that enable Colombianitos to sustainably fund its efforts to scale and replicate impact. The contribution also offers some challenging questions for sport leaders to consider, as they start the process of modernizing their ‘sport in society’ governance standards for the future.

My ninth contribution is going to be published in the middle of December. It will offer perspectives on the case of The Netherlands Olympic Committee and Sport Confederation with a focus on ways to financially motivate good governance in national sport federations.

Ensuring adequate and sustainable funding is a critical management challenge

I regularly visit and support projects that evolve around creating social change for underprivileged children through educational approaches to doing sport. When doing so, I often hear the leadership of such projects say that their most critical management challenge is ensuring adequate and sustainable funding.

As opposed to trying to reinvent the wheel, which seems the approach applied in too many projects, the best way to address the challenge is to spot and learn from evolving good management practices in other similar projects. Pursuing such an approach can indeed be easier said than done in a situation, where a project finds itself in a vicious circle of short-termism and ‘survival mode’. However, getting the funding model right is the only effective foundation for sustaining, replicating and scaling impact.

A brief introduction to Colombianitos and its ever-growing impact

Colombianitos is a foundation in Colombia. It works to bring about new hope for a better future to children, who are victims of armed conflict and forced displacement. Based on the ‘Right To Play’ methodology, educational sport is at the heart of Colombianitos’ approach to generating social change. The foundation’s programs in football, badminton, table tennis, dance and other sports and activities aim at motivating children to acquire an education and build strong values and life skills, while helping them elude the dangers of impoverished urban slums. Ultimately, Colombianitos’ programs help transform highly disadvantaged communities in Colombia into social environments that support and reinforce positive lifestyles.

The ever-growing impact of Colombianitos is impressive and remarkable. Over the course of the last 12 years, the foundation has proved able to substantially scale and replicate what started out as one point of operation in Bogota with approx. 500 children. Today, Colombianitos has six points of operation throughout Colombia with a total of approx. 4,000 children.

While Colombianitos works nationally in Colombia, the foundation has an international perspective too. It is a member of the umbrella organization Streetfootballworld. Colombianitos also attracts board members and funding from abroad.

The foundation for Colombianitos’ success is its proven ability to generate adequate and sustainable funding

Unlike many of its peers across sports and nations, Colombianitos has proven very successful in generating adequate funding. Not just to sustainably run its operations, but also to substantially scale and replicate its impact throughout Colombia. Particularly noteworthy practices include the foundation’s extensive visibility on the Internet and its pool of diversified sources of funding.

Colombianitos is indeed very visible on the Internet. First of all, the foundation makes comprehensive information available on its website, in English as well as in Spanish. According to Colombianitos, especially current and prospective sponsors appreciate that the foundation makes available governance related information such as annual reports. It creates trust and assurance that their money is spent as intended.

At the same time, Colombianitos utilizes social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. With currently 2,100 ‘likes’, Facebook seems a particularly important platform. That is also the case for YouTube, inasmuch as it serves as the platform for communicating impact through video testimonials. In these video testimonials, children provide self-assessments on how their engagement in Colombianitos has changed their lives.

For further information, see:

> Colombianitos’ website

> Colombianitos on Facebook

> Colombianitos on Twitter

> Colombianitos on YouTube

The culmination of Leg 2 really set the precedent as to what this Clipper Round the World Race is all about. The setting for the boats was picturesque and idyllic to say the least. With a backdrop of Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain behind us and the stunning surroundings of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront all around, the Clipper Race team really ‘pushed the boat out’ on this one (excuse the pun!!).

The boats formed the centrepiece of this African hotspot and what a fantastic spectacle they made. A major focus was placed on ensuring that all of the major sponsors were given their own air time and with over a week in port, there was ample opportunity to promote each one individually.

This stopover was all about one boat though, Invest Africa. With Sapinda Rainbow being a major supporter of the boat and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Foundation, this was their chance to shine. The message was a resounding success as the Clipper Race and Sapinda Rainbow sought to promote the charities involvement within the race. With young South African youths having been carefully chosen by the charity to champion their cause on each Leg of this prolific race, the Clipper Race organisers were keen to demonstrate just how much this experience will help change these young adult’s lives forever. 

There were press from all over the continent on site, keen to see just what the Clipper Race offers to the future of the rainbow nation. Visits to Robben Island, the deprived holding cell for Africa’s prodigal son, Mr Nelson Mandela was a particular highlight of some of the many activations that took place. The message was clear, this is the ‘Race of Your Life.’ It gives hope, confidence and fulfilment to all those that take part in it and will be an integral part in these young adults road to success and freedom in the future.

Away from its African focus, the Clipper Race continued to promote its flagship GREAT Britain boat, by further integrating and aligning its key messages with that of the British High Consul. An open evening for the Consulate who invited 250 of its key investors and supporters down to the waterfront to be shown around the boats, was an example of how the Clipper Race and Number 10 Downing Street continue to champion its ‘Adventure is Great’ campaign.

Team sponsor and Clipper Race learning and development partner, Mission Performance demonstrated its ability to be one of the world’s leading motivators and performance assessors in the business world, by holding several workshops and appraisal sessions for both the crews and skippers on board the Clipper Race yachts. Supported and inspired by several stand out sportsman and military generals, all of whom have demonstrated an appetite for success throughout their careers, Mission Performance seeks to foster a winning mentality and collective determination within the organisations that it works with. They are a company that is becoming increasingly ever-present within the Clipper Race infrastructure and their involvement is becoming an increasingly positive one.

Derry~Londonderry~Doire began their promotional activity around the race by ensuring that their deputy mayor was on site and heavily involved within the prize giving ceremony, encouraging the masses to be there for the ‘party of the year’ when the race comes in to town in Derry Londonderry in June 2014.

OneDLL were surprisingly quiet this time around and Henri Lloyd appear to be letting their boat do all the talking for its brand as it currently leads the Clipper Race overall.

With Albany the next port of call for the race fleet, it will be interesting to see how the Clipper Race organisers go about trying to reproduce the spectacular scenes that were created in Cape Town. That said, it is a town that  is very keen to promote everything that is great about its brilliant coastline destination and I for one can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.

Onwards and safe sailing to Albany….

Ollie Phillips is a talented and diverse rugby player, having played Premiership, Top 14 and International rugby.

Since beginning his professional rugby career in 1999, Ollie has played for Harlequins RFC, Newcastle RFC, Gloucester RFC and Stade Francais.

Internationally, Ollie has played for England Sevens and between 2004 – 2009 and was the captain from 2008 to 2009. Since 2012 Ollie has returned to the England Sevens team.

Ollie captained England in seven of the eight World Series tournaments in 2008-09, only missing George through injury.

Following his global plaudits, Ollie was rewarded by being named World Sevens player of the Year in 2009, being only the 2nd English player to win this award.

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I thought I’d talk to you about the view of the events world from down under and more to the point, how we grapple with it…indeed, how we from Australia have made such an exceptional international success of the events work we do. Of course, we have had the enormous impetus of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Rugby World Cup in 2003, the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and other sport and non-sport events as a platform. Australian specialists have played significant roles, albeit not often widely publicised or celebrated, at many international sporting events in recent years. Apart from the keen interest, there is something ‘in the water’ that warrants mention.

We have grown up in and have lived for many years in a very diverse environment.  The proportion of Australian residents born overseas is over 25%; and while the largest number comes from the UK, the proportion of migrants born in Asia increased from 24% of the overseas-born population in 2001 to 33% in 2011. The strong anglo-celtic numbers of early Australia have been added to by migrants from all parts of the world. At the same time, we now recognise more fully the aboriginals as the indigenous owners of Australia.

Our closest neighbours are New Zealand and Asia. There are many close social and economic ties with New Zealand. Over the last 25 years, connectivity with Asia has become a way of life for much of the business community in Australia. We have honed a type of resilience that in addition to the relative openness and candour of Australians has resonated in Asia. We have learned and understood the need to become sensitive, patient and persistent.

These attributes are particularly relevant to the global events industry which of necessity interfaces, liaises and negotiates with governments, official entities and governing bodies which in various ways rule parts of the sporting events world. The strengths of Australians have been manifest in international sporting events in Asia, the Gulf and UK/Europe while in parallel the same qualities, knowledge and expertise extends to business events and cultural event.

From Australia it is de rigeur, a piece of cake, to fly for a couple of days to Singapore or Hong Kong or to China, as from London you might to Geneva or Milan, or similarly within the United States. This is part of the resilience that Australians have developed. There is a mental as well as a physical dimension to this attribute and both are crucial. The ‘balancing act’ between these becomes an art of sorts. Maybe this is a particular form of Australian right brain-left brain adaptation to our location but for whatever reason there are now Australians substantially engaged in the design, planning, delivery and administration of major events globally and especially in international sporting events.

This extends to management, training for and marketing of major sports as well as of major venues. And it will continue.

Our businesses are small and we have learned to think outside the box and to collaborate. We have learned to work with competitors. We have learned how to work closely with event organisers, owners and sponsors, often a little ‘beneath the horizon’, so as to preserve their integrity, to achieve and further their objectives and ambitions.  We have understood the methodologies of gathering, applying and transferring knowledge. Our guys have proven to be adaptable, flexible and creative – and good listeners.

With Australia being a relatively small but high calibre market, our events design, planning and delivery specialists have cleverly reconstructed and developed further their practical events knowledge, proven it further locally and taken it back into play in the big markets of global events. The preface of The Australian Olympic Caravan from 2000 to 2012* refers to “this unique example of Australian inventiveness and ingenuity and ‘can do’ endeavour”. This remarkable contribution, enthusiasm and involvement in international events will continue.

*Richard Cashman and Rob Harris, WallaWalla Press, Sydney, 2012

Ericc is the CEO at New Millennium Business, based in Sydney.

Ericc specialises in the business of events, embracing many facets of events planning and business. He brings meaning, magic and memory to the global events arena. Ericc works with event owners, organisers, host governments and sponsors and with companies which are engaged in events delivery. He is recognised as a ‘go-to’ person in Australia and internationally and has a strong track-record – he previously represented government in the arena of international sporting events. His expertise spans events ‘ideation’, business planning, marketing, branding, showcasing, negotiating, managing risk, legacy development – applying strategic foresight and decoding emerging trends.

Ericc has impressive local and international networks. His “Back on the Block” newsletter on the business of events is widely read. He is a contributing writer to various journals, has been featured in newspapers and has spoken by invitation at international conferences and universities.

Ericc is CEO at New Millennium Business, based in Sydney;  @ericwinton

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David Bernstein reached 70 on May 22. Hence he has to step down this week as chairman of the Football Association in the middle of its 150th anniversary party.

Bernstein will be succeeded by Greg Dyke. The latter’s record suggests a more bullishly aggressive approach than that of the suave former French Connection chairman [who oversaw the FCUK promotional campaign].

January 2011 saw the one-time Manchester City chairman’s elevation to leadership of the English game. He succeeded Geoff Thompson six weeks after England’s high-visibility failure in the bidding for host rights for the 2018 World Cup finals.

Bernstein’s leadership of the FA has seen progress in a number of domestic spheres. Renovation of youth development has continued and St George’s Park was unveiled finally at the heart of the FA’s coaching vision going forward.

He offered the impression of a safe pair of hands and sought to finesse some of the proposals of the Burns Report into the governance of English football.

Sports Minister Hugh Robertson was barely satisfied with the slow pace of progress so a faint possibility of government intervention remains in the air.

This is hardly Bernstein’s fault. The chairman of the FA is squeezed between the needs of the grassroots game and the pressure of the Premier League. One of the victims of this perpetual stand-off is the England national team itself. The failings of a compromise approach was evidenced by the implosion of a weakened under-21s at the recent European finals in Israel.

Bernstein’s reign also encompassed the storm over racial abuse. He had been chairman for only nine months when the John Terry and (original) Luis Suarez incidents exploded. In time Bernstein may reflect that in bringing a unified focus to the issue he played a significant role in driving FIFA and UEFA into long-overdue recognition of the problem.

In the international political arena Bernstein’s era will viewed as more negative than positive. His work within UEFA has been more effective than on the FIFA stage. Wembley has hosted the Champions League Final twice and highly successfully during his reign; David Gill has also stepped out of the club world as England’s new representative on the European federation’s executive committee.

FIFA has been a very different matter.

Bernstein’s first appearance in most delegates’ vision was in standing up at FIFA Congress in 2011 and opposing the re-election of Sepp Blatter as president even though there was no other candidate. Such a step was politically courageous on Bernstein’s first FIFA outing as FA chairman. However he did so despite being asked to refrain by UEFA president Michel Platini and the gesture backfired spectacularly.

Influential figures such as FIFA vice-presidents Julio Grondona and Angel Maria Villar immediately stood up not only to disagree but to question the historical enjoyment by England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales of independent international status.

This was far more damaging to Irish, Scottish and Welsh concerns over international singularity than ever their participation in the Great Britain Olympic football project would have proved [They left it all to the FA despite approving the hosting of Olympic matches in Glasgow and Cardiff].

Reason was simple. The anomaly pointed up by Bernstein’s critics gave FIFA reform leaders Mark Pieth and then German Theo Zwanziger all the ammunition they needed to drive through the death of the British vice-presidency and open up to examination the make-up of the law-making International Board (four votes for the UK, four for FIFA).

Bernstein’s vain proposal – which would left crisis-hit FIFA rudderless for at least six months at the worst possible time – has been held up ever since by Blatter as a gesture of sour grapes at the World Cup bid disaster.

It took Bernstein and the FA six months to start mending fences with FIFA but the British vice-presidency [written into statutes by Sir Stanley Rous in 1946] will become ‘just another’ UEFA delegate once Jim Boyce has completed his term in 2015. Suggestions that UEFA will allocate the seat to a British representative may be taken with a pinch of political salt.

It will be fascinating to see how Dyke deals with FIFA and Blatter. To be fair, it is unlikely to be among his priorities. There is plenty enough to concern him at home, never mind abroad.

Keir Radnedge has been covering football worldwide for more than 40 years, writing 33 books, from tournament guides to comprehensive encyclopedias, aimed at all ages.

His journalism career included The Daily Mail for 20 years as well as The Guardian and other national newspapers and magazines in the UK and around the world. He is a former editor, and remains a lead columnist, with World Soccer, generally recognised as the premier English language magazine on global football.

In addition to his writing, Keir has been a regular analyst for BBC radio and television, Sky Sports, Sky News, Aljazeera and CNN.

Keir Radnedge’s Twitter: @KeirRadnedge

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Welsh Rugby Union CEO Roger Lewis has said that “the funding debate for the four regions will not be decided by a small minority, ampoule ” according to ISPORTCONNECT. The Professional Regional Game Board “was set up last year with the possibility of two of the four regions gaining extra funding, read more here >>

Modern Pentathlon has a long and successful history in Sweden, but due to new circumstances, technological evolution and military cost savings, times are certainly changing for the proud old sport.

Modern Pentathlon was created back in 1912 for the summer Olympics in Stockholm, when Mr Pierre de Coubertin, the IOK President, asked the Swedes to set up the rules for a new combination sport.  The idea was to define a sport that would ask for all the skills of the ultimate defender of the King.

The defender should be able to swim the big lakes, shoot with a gun, fence against the enemy, ride horseback over obstacles and run if the horse got injured. In the Stockholm Games, the Swedes were very successful and in the last century we have been one of the three strongest nations when it comes to the number of Olympic medals conquered.

Five different sports is quite a challenge in many ways and demand some resources. However, support from the military has decreased for last decades and the Swedish Modern Pentathlon has started to build its own base and organisation.

We have a need to grow and recruit both leaders and athletes. A great need for strong individuals and great initiatives, to work professionally when it comes to marketing and communication internally as well as externally.

The success may be a matter of awareness, motivation and organization.

The new athletes enjoy the modern combined event (running and shooting laser) and its variety. I believe that in an ever faster changing world our sport will raise great leaders that will use their power, heart and brain to become the best. We believe Modern Pentathlon could raise and educate prosperous world citizens.

I am convinced that this is also what companies need in the future; emotionally mature, socially intelligent and strong people with many competences-the ultimate employee.

If we can attract the right Swedes to the sport, I believe we will win new Olympic medals and the future will meet the history.

The sport will become as it is supposed to be in Sweden- modern again.

About Kicki Molin

Kicki Molin is the first woman elected President of the Swedish Modern Pentathlon.

She works at www.qmill.se mainly with business development, leadership and internal communication. Qmill was developed from Kicki’s own experience in work and sport, combined with her latest education as NLP Master in business, Lab Profile Trainer and Licensed Sports Performance Coach.

She also has a Bachelor of business Administration. She has twenty years of experience from the Market Research field as a Consultant, Sales and Country Manager.

Kicki lives in Stockholm with her husband and three daughters, loves to swim, run and to play golf.

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The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is without equal, a fierce blend of intense competition and stirring human endeavour, but the results don’t stop with its crew: its unique global challenge provides an inspiring stage which translates into a powerful business opportunity for official partners and suppliers who share similar ambition to push boundaries and go beyond expectation.

Clipper Race CEO and Co-Founder William Ward says: “Governments, cities, financial technology leaders, small specialist businesses and larger consumer brands, all shared our vision throughout the Clipper 2015-16 Race, collaborating with us on a wide variety of creative campaigns. We’re extremely pleased to see them achieving such strong results through their partnerships with us.”
Tourism, trade and investment, brand awareness, sales growth, business development, R&D, community engagement and legacy are just some of the reasons partners choose to do business with the world’s greatest ocean adventure.    

For Host Ports and Team Partners, attracting tourists and building economic impact is key. Long term partner Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland experienced a record breaking £3.5 million boost to its local economy during the past race edition.

A new independent research report reveals that 163,000 visitors, 25 per cent of whom were international, visited the city’s waterfront during the nine-day 2016 Foyle Maritime Festival which was built around the Clipper Race stopover last July. Two thirds of visitors stated that the Clipper Race was a primary reason for visiting the festival and the high attendance levels also resulted in July 2016 being the best performing month for hotel room sales ever recorded in Derry-Londonderry.

The city, which uses the race to promote the message that the city has moved on from its troubled past and is open for tourism, trade and education, exceeded all previous years’ results. Alderman Hilary McClintock, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, said: “We have welcomed visitors from all over the world and it has been fantastic to see the city profiled in such a positive way on the race’s global platform.

“Our partnership with the Clipper Race has helped demonstrate our ability to stage an international event generating substantial revenue for the local economy and it has enhanced the region’s profile as an exciting and unique visitor destination.”
The British Government’s GREAT Britain campaign has partnered with the Clipper Race since 2012 to support its wider objectives of bringing jobs and growth to the UK through promoting international trade opportunities and attracting tourists, and export opportunities.

The shared ambition of promoting business as part of a global trade mission on the race resulted in 100 new business connections following twelve international influencing events in race stopover locations including Cape Town, Sydney, Da Nang – Vietnam, Qingdao – China and Seattle. 

Conrad Bird, Director of the GREAT Britain campaign, said: “The Clipper Race has been a fantastic partner to date, providing the GREAT campaign with a huge amount of opportunities to promote our businesses and our brands. It is also a social platform with a strong human dimension.

“The Clipper Race story is unique, of real people facing individual challenges and undergoing transformational experiences, with those experiences translating into highly inspiring opportunities to tell our success stories around the world.”

William Ward, the Clipper Race CEO, was appointed a GREAT Ambassador and joined up with other UK business leaders to promote the UK Government’s ‘Exporting is GREAT’ advertising campaign. Filmed on board the GREAT Britain boat during the Rio de Janeiro stopover in 2015-16 race, the advert has featured extensively on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky TV.

In business, relationships are key and the Clipper Race offers a unique and dynamic engagement platform. Financial technology leader LMAX Exchange used its team partnership to nurture existing client relationships as well as to develop new business opportunities in key territories: London, Sydney, Qingdao, China and New York. With over 220 clients engaged and 50 new business connections made, LMAX Exchange rated its return on opportunity as 7:1.

The long-term duration of the race and its global participation, scope and audience levels offer high awareness and sales potential to consumer brands. Activations to date have realised significant double-digit growth and in 2015-16 the Official Clipper Race Timekeeper Elliot Brown Watches launched a multi-platform digital awareness campaign looking to emulate this success.

Throughout its 18-month campaign Elliot Brown Watches grew 40 per cent and sold all its limited-edition Clipper Race Canford watches. The brand also collaborated on a successful digital marketing campaign using unique content sent back during the race by a brand ambassador crew member and the creative use of fastening a watch to the mast of one of the round the world yachts to prove the products durability in the face of Mother Nature’s harshest conditions.

The Clipper Race’s heavy endurance nature has provided Technical Clothing Partner Henri Lloyd a perfect testing bed since 2002 for trialling new technologies and design firsts, and with approximately 700 crew now participating in each edition, a typical year-on-year increase of 40 per cent in sales has been directly attributed to its race partnership.

In a further strengthening of East Asian relationships, Qingdao, the Clipper Race’s longest term Host Port and Team Partner since 2005, which has built its credentials as China’s Sailing City, has committed to a further two race partnership to 2020. With the addition of Sanya as a second Chinese Host Port and Team Partner for the next two races, the Clipper Race is committed to developing multilateral tourism and business relationships between Asia and the rest of the world.

In addition to helping partners realise financial targets, the Clipper Race supports vital corporate and social responsibility initiatives, such as the first-time partnership with Official Clipper Race Charity Unicef which raised over £320,000 for children in danger in every country visited on the race route.

The race also works with the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation bursary scheme for young people from challenging backgrounds in South Africa. It was created in 2013 to provide unique development opportunities in a bid to inspire future community leaders through completing a leg of the race followed by mentoring. All participants from the 2015-16 edition of the race have now gone into education, training or employment.

To read a summary of all the highlights from the 2015-16 edition, visit the partnerships Case Study section of the website.

The Clipper 2017-18 Race will set off in August.