The World Football Summit Podcast

This week, Natalie Bowles, Member Services Manager at the League Managers Association, and Kristian Dobrev, Deputy CEO at the Football Business Academy join us on the show to talk about developing a career in the sports industry, leadership, how to stay on top of current trends, the value of a good education… If you are an “aspiring” sports business professional, this is a conversation for you. Th...

This week, we welcome Unmish Parthasarathi to the show. Unmish is the Founder of Picture Board Partners, which he launched after a brilliant career at brands like IMG, ESPN, FOX, and the International Cricket Council. I met Unmish because he is also a speaker at World Football Summit Asia and I realized he could be someone who brought a lot of value to you guys. During the conversation, we discuss...

If you are a follower of the podcast or simply interested in the football industry, I am pretty sure you have asked yourself about which are the markets with the greatest potential for football…right? On today’s show, we are going to try and answer that question thanks to our friends from LTT Sports. We have just launched in collaboration with them a detailed report that looks into a group of mark...

This week, we welcome another amazing female leader in football to the show as I get to sit down with Ashlee-Fontes Comber, Owner & CEO of the Tallahassee Reckoning. Ashlee and I had a fantastic conversation about what it has been like to build the football team, what makes it unique, their business model, and more. She also shares some great advice for female leaders in football and her views...

This week, we welcome Preeti Shetty, another amazing female leader in football, for an awesome conversation about her different roles: - CEO of Upshot. - Director at Brentford FC. - She is involved with Ready, a platform aimed at educating women in the industry with new technologies. - Entrepreneur after launching "Valeur" with another remarkable female leader in football: Arianna Crisci...

This week we welcome Oli Perkins, Market Lead at VEO Technologies to the show. Veo’s AI-powered solution helps football clubs record, analyze, and live stream games Our conversation covers, in addition to the value that VEO brings to the industry: Performance on the pitch, where we talk about how their mission-led approach has enabled them to work with Kevin de Bruyne, Lewes FC, and many more orga...

I hope you agree that getting a high-quality education is key for any sports business professional. This is why I was so excited to welcome this week’s two guests to the show: Vicente Valero, Campus Director at the European Sports Business School, and Borja Eroles, Operations Coordinator at Valencia CF. And the reason I was looking forward to this conversation is precisely the combination of havin...

This week, we welcome two top-tier guests to the show. Alexander Jobst, CEO at Fortuna Düsseldorf, and Christophe Jehan, Deputy CEO at Targobank join us to discuss in-depth the fantastic “Fortuna for All” Initiative. In case you don’t about this groundbreaking project, the essence of it is that over the next 5 years, Fortuna Düsseldorf will play 3 home games per season where fans can enjoy the mat...

Today, Rayde is back on the show for another masterclass on the state of the industry. We talk about: The role of sports content today, in the aftermath of the launch of David Beckham’s documentary The potential and the valuations of MLS and NWSL teams and how brands can capitalize on that momentum. What football can learn from the major American leagues Before closing off with trends and dynamics...

Multi-club ownership is one of the most transformative forces in the industry. So this week, we bring you a fantastic panel from WFS Europe on multi-club ownership with Jordan Gardner (Twenty-First Group), Jeff Luhnow ( Blue Crow Sports Group), Shawn Doss (Elevate Sports Ventures), and Nic Coward (Portas Consulting), where they discuss: The benefits and challenges of the multi-club ownership model...

This week, you are invited to a masterclass on creating a digital sports publisher with Steve Calzada, Co-founder and Creative Director at Post United. Post United is the number 1 football digital publisher in Spain, and they are taking the concept of providing information and entertainment around football to another level. The business was founded in 2019 and since then, they have had spectacular...

Tony Mamodaly, Head of International Operations at TSG Hoffenheim is our guest on the show this week, in what is a true masterclass in international strategy and business frameworks. Tony and I discuss: How TSG Hoffenheim approaches its international strategy and what makes it unique We talk about different levers of their strategy: Partnerships, the academy, technology, trends, and key success fa...

Today, we welcome Dr. Vicki G. Ross, another remarkable female leader in football to the show. Dr. Ross is the president of UNAFUT, the organism that manages the 1st division in Costa Rica, and, to my knowledge, she is the only woman leading a top-tier men's football league…in the world! But Dr. Ross is much more than that, she is a fellow at the Central America Leadership Initiative, a previo...

This week, we have a couple of amazing guests who will speak about two topics we are passionate about: Football (Soccer) & Sustainability. Lu Barnes, captain at NWSL club OL Reign, and Santiago Gallo, Associate General Manager of the team, join the show to give a true demonstration of what embracing sustainability is truly about. During the conversation, we talked about: How sustainability is...

In previous episodes, we talked about how the traditional sports business model is outdated. Broadcasting rights will not increase forever, commercial partnerships are looking into maximizing the ROI of every penny they invest, and matchday revenue has its limits because of capacity constraints. In addition, there is always the lingering topic of monetizing the international fan. How do you solve...

Today, we welcome Arianna Criscione back to the show. I wanted to do so ever since our first conversation a few months back and I could not have asked for a better time to do so (we actually recorded this after the FIFA Women's World Cup Final between Spain & England) This time around Arianna & I talked about the state of women’s football, analyzed opportunities going forward, and chal...

Thomas Rypens, Direct-to-Consumer Director at Club Brugge, is our guest on the show this week. Club Brugge is one of those clubs that are looking for new ways to grow revenues through technological innovation, and today you are in for a true masterclass on the mindset that is needed to embrace innovation within a football property Thomas and I discussed: The countless initiatives they are testing...

In today's episode, we're thrilled to feature yet another remarkable female leader in football, Erika Montemor. Head of Player Status at FIFA. Are you ready to be inspired? Our conversation covers: Her personal journey and her battle against cancer Her advice for aspiring female leaders in football and embracing risks Her role at FIFA and what it is like to work at one of the most importan...

This week we welcome Gavin Smith, Head of Data Analytics at Orlando Pirates to the show. I have been looking forward to this conversation with Gavin for several months, ever since he participated in an awesome panel during WFS Africa. And the wait was well worth it. With Gavin, we speak about: The role that Data Science plays at Orlando Pirates. The frameworks and models that Gavin has developed f...

Today, we welcome Tony Cherchi to the show. Tony is currently part of the team that works on broadcasting the MLS on Apple TV, so this is an amazing opportunity for you to learn some of the details behind that groundbreaking deal. That's not all, Tony has more than 20 years of experience hosting TV shows covering live games, and interviewing the best of what sports have to offer, so the amount...

Today, we welcome Daniel Geey to the show for a great overview of the sports law landscape in the football industry as well as a masterclass on building a successful career in the sports industry. His career as a sports lawyer includes club takeovers, high-profile transfers, commercial endorsement deals and disputes. He is also an author, and we get to talk about his new book, Build the Invisible...

Leander Monbaliu, Partner & Chief Business Officer at LaSource, joins the show to discuss broadcasting, digital transformation, and startups! Lasource works with high-profile startups, tech companies, and sports and media organisations to accelerate growth across the sports industry. Leander also has amazing experience in organizations such as the Belgian Pro League so the degree of expertise...

Jordan Gardner returns to the podcast, ready to deep dive into some of the industry's most trending topics: Unpacking the influence of players joining the Saudi Pro League The implications of Saudi's PIF privatization strategy on the global football landscape Analyzing the current valuations of MLS franchises, including whether or not they will be sustainable. Assessing the ripple effects...

Our guest today is David Diaz, Partner at Baker McKenzie and Head of Sport. With his extensive knowledge of sports law, David provides invaluable insights into some of the most pressing issues impacting the football industry. In our conversation, we explore the legal implications of key topics, including: The new FIFA agent regulations and their potential challenges within the EU legal frameworks....

Have you ever wondered what's happening in the 98% of a football match when players aren't actually touching the ball? It's a fascinating thought, right? Considering what we typically focus on is that mere 2% of on-ball action! Well, you're in for a treat today. Today we welcome Paul Neilson, General Manager at SkillCorner, to the show and he's going to blow your mind about thi...