Jordan to host 2014 Soccerex Asian Forum next week

AMMAN –– Leading football and business figures in Asia will meet with their global counterparts in Jordan next week to discuss the development of the game across the continent during the 2014 Soccerex Asian Forum. 

The two-day event, to be held on the eastern shores of the Dead Sea on May 13 and 14, will see the participation of a host of football legends, according to organisers. 

The forum will be held in partnership with the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), an Amman-based non-profit youth commission that was founded by HRH Prince Ali, FIFA vice president representing Asia and president of Jordan Football Association.   

Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie told The Jordan Times in an e-mail interview that over 750 delegates have registered so far to attend the forum, expecting the final number of attendees to be closer to 1,000.

Revie indicated that representatives from leading European clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester City FC, Barcelona, Valencia, Villarreal, Feyenoor and Galatasary will attend the event, in addition to local clubs like Al Faisali, Shabab Urdun and Al Ahli. 

Other participants, according to Revie –– the founder of Soccerex –– include two FIFA vice presidents and three other members of the FIFA Executive Committee, six AFC Executive Committee members and 12 national football association presidents, including USA, Jordan, Qatar, Korea, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic and Papua New Guinea.

Participants will listen to a briefing on plans for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup presented by Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the Gulf nation's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, according to Revie, who noted that senior representatives involved with delivering the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia, the 2016 Women’s U-17 FIFA World Cup in Jordan and the 2017 Men’s U-17 FIFA World Cup in India will also be present at the gathering. 

International football legends like England's Bryan Robson, Argentina's Ossie Ardiles and France's Louis Saha have confirmed their participation, according to Revie, son of the late great England and Leeds United manager Don Revie.

He indicated that big companies like Pepsi, IMG, Dentsu, ALJ, Repucom, Orange and BeIN Sports will attend the forum. 

Revie noted that significant deals that "will improve Asian football will undoubtedly be done as a result of the Soccerex Asian Forum".

"This may be on the day itself or as the result of discussions that started through Soccerex, but our events have regularly proved to be catalysts for large international deals. Whether it is a deal for Liverpool to develop a new academy in India, the contract to supply flooring to South African World Cup stadia or the sponsorship of Real Madrid shirts — all these deals have been done through Soccerex and our events will continue to be a platform for business," he said. 

On the benefits the forum would provide to Jordan's football, he said the Soccerex Asian Forum will shed light on the Kingdom its potential, while Asian football, in general, will also be in the spotlight. 

"It will bring in international expertise in terms of league management, stadia development, major event delivery and club management along with leading suppliers from over 50 different countries creating a melting pot for business that will benefit football across the continent."

Big industry 

Revie explained that Asia is an interesting market because of its size — approximately one-third of the world’s footballers live in Asia. 

"This is a huge market to work with," he said, adding that another key driver is the people’s passion for the game  as European teams draw huge audiences wherever they play in Asia and clubs now have regional offices and multilingual websites to help supply these local markets.

On a question on the size of football transfers in Europe, Revie said the Soccerex Transfer Review — a joint venture between Soccerex and leading agency Prime Time Sports –– recorded that during last winter’s transfer window in Europe, 290 million euros were spent, a 4.3 per cent increase on the previous year.  

Football in the Middle East 

Revie said there has been a lot of progress in terms of football in the Middle East as professional leagues have emerged in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. 

The Kingdom was one game away from qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil and Qatar was chosen as host for the 2022 tournament, the first time a World Cup will be held in the Middle East, he said.  

Soccerex history  

The idea for Soccerex was conceived in Manchester in 1995, said Revie, who supports Leeds United.  

"I was at a music industry event with my sister Kim, who works in the business, and it struck me that there was nothing similar in football which brought together the business side of the game. This was the early days of the Premier League, before football had become the commercial behemoth it is today and when I told my wife, my sister and the other guests at the dinner, they all thought I was mad."

 "But I knew there was an opportunity here and after getting the buy-in of some of the key stakeholders involved like FIFA and the Premier League who I went to see, we held the first Soccerex event at Wembley just one year later," he said.  

Since that first Soccerex, the company has staged over 30 events in five different continents — including six years in Dubai — bringing together over 40,000 industry figures, he said, adding that Soccerex is currently established as the leading provider of football business events worldwide.

Clients 

Soccerex events are for anyone who makes a buck out of football, Revie said.

"When I first started the company I thought our market would be the big brands like Nike and Adidas but quickly realised that the industry is much bigger than that. Football cannot be played at the top level without stadia and the supporting infrastructure so architects, turf companies, ticketing solution providers all need to attend."