Indian Super League and World Cup Chiefs to Present at Soccerex

The Indian football bazaar is set to be unveiled at this year’s Soccerex Global Convention, taking place in Manchester, 7-9 September, as Indian football returns to the agenda of the world’s premier football business event.

India is currently emerging from being a developing footballing country to possibly becoming one of the future superpowers of world football in years to come.

After plans for the 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup(tm) were officially presented to the world football industry at last year’s Convention, Indian football has continued its growing popularity following an overwhelmingly successful inaugural season for the Indian Super League (ISL).

The panel, moderated by Sukhvinder Singh, managing director of Libero Sports India, will see General Secretary of the All India Football Federation, Kushal Das, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Director, Rajpal Singh and Northeast United FC CEO, Rahul Patil, discuss the latest developments in both the ISL and tournament hosting, including the huge business opportunities available and the enormous challenges that are being faced.

Former manager of Mumbai City FC Peter Reid is also included in the panel and will be speaking about his time in the ISL and the developments of the league since its inauguration.

The 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup(tm) will be the first global football tournament held in India and will be a significant event in the development of the youth side of the game in the country. 

With a potential $38 million investment from FIFA waiting in the wings, developments are continuing in potential host cities as various business opportunities for suppliers in the industry to engage with key individuals from the AIFF arise, to learn about the multiple commercial opportunities the tournament will create.

Commercial opportunities are also ripe in the ISL having attracted sponsors and partners from across a wide range of India’s biggest companies, with last year’s ‘Title Sponsor’ Hero MotoCorp Ltd joined by Maruzi Suzuki as the ‘Associate Sponsor’.

The ISL join all 20 Barclays Premier League clubs, along with the Convention’s institutional partners The Football League and LaLiga, who are bringing all 72 and all 20 member clubs respectively, the LFP Ligue 1, also institutional partners and a senior delegation from MLS, at the event.

The league has also continued to attract high calibre players for the upcoming season, with stars such as Luis Garcia, Alessandro Del Piero, and David Trezeguet arriving as marquee signings for Atletico de Kolkata, Dehli Dynamos FC and FC Pune City respectively, and former Chelsea pair Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda joining Mumbai City FC.

Das and the Indian delegation will join a growing list of international industry leaders who will be speaking at the Global Convention including HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Chief Executive of the FA Martin Glenn, President of La Liga Javier Tebas, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and CEO of the Football League Shaun Harvey.

The Convention kicks off with the Football Festival on 5-6 September, with the Conference starting on Monday 7th September. A packed international exhibition and a programme of networking and social events complete the schedule for what is widely acknowledged as the world’s leading business event.

For full information about Soccerex please visit http://www.soccerex.com/global //  call +44 (0)20 8987 5522 //  email enquiry@soccerex.com<mailto:enquiry@soccerex.com>