The World Football Summit Podcast

This week, we bring you a panel I was lucky enough to moderate between Milos Nenadovic (LaLiga) and Juan Antón de Salas (Villarreal FC) during Football Innovation Forum where we explore how football clubs can boost stadium revenues in a highly competitive entertainment landscape. Key points of discussion include: 1. The role of unique stadium experiences in capturing non-traditional sports fans. 2...

Today we welcome Carlo de Marchis to the show, in what was a super fun conversation about innovation in sports. What I liked most about this one is the number of topics that Carlo is knowledgeable about including: The intriguing world of Generative AI and how it's changing the game in sports. A deep-dive into sports innovation, touching base on fascinating initiatives like the Kings League, Wr...

Today we welcome Nicole Allison, a prime example of a female leader driving change in women’s football. With an amazing career that spans across consulting, media, notable roles at Tottenham Hotspur, the English Football League, and now, as the proud owner of Worcester City Women FC, Nicole truly embodies the spirit of the game. In our conversation, we talk about: 1️⃣ The intriguing evolution of w...

We're thrilled to have Timm Jäger, CEO of EintrachtTech at Eintracht Frankfurt, join us on the show. This is a club that has made innovation a core part of its identity and has been recognized with several awards, including "The German Innovation Award," a place in the "Top 100 most innovative medium-sized companies in Germany," and the "WFS Award for Best Digital Tran...

In today's episode, we're thrilled to feature yet another inspiring female leader in football, Agustina de Giovanni. As the Director of Mental Performance and Culture at MLS Club DC United, Agustina is a mental performance coach specializing in football/soccer. Our conversation covers: The importance of mental training in optimizing performance Mindsets, frameworks, and techniques to effec...

Have you ever wondered what leading innovation initiatives at a “smaller” club is like? Javier Jiménez Sacristán is the guest on our show today and at the time of this recording, he was the Innovation Director at SD Ponferradina, a club from the Spanish second division. The conversation with him covers four main topics: Innovation and the role of technology at a football club His approach to devel...

We have a very special guest for you today and probably someone who needs no introduction. César Azpilicueta, captain at Chelsea FC and founder of the eSports team, Falcons, joins us for an awesome episode! This was a conversation I was really looking forward to because I wanted to get to know César not as a footballer, but as a person, a leader, and a businessman. I hope you are ready for a maste...

Paul Dreisbach, founder of Petrichor and former speaker of WFS Africa, is our guest on this week's episode Petrichor develops youth football programs in Cameroon, and in partnership with La Liga, it operates the largest girls’ youth league in Cameroon. Paul is an advocate of sports for social change and during the conversation we discuss The origins and the “why” behind Petrichor. What they ha...

Today, we welcome two guests from Deportivo de A Coruña to the show as Carlos Cantó, Board Member at the Club, and Massimo Benassi, who is their Chief Business Development Officer, join us to share how are they trying to professionalize the club and take their commercial strategy to another level. Now, this is an interesting case because Deportivo is a club with a strong legacy and a powerful bran...

This week, we welcome another awesome female leader in football. Romaney Pinnock is the founder of Badgers Academy in South Africa, and she has a very clear mission: Creating a safe space for girls to play football. Romaney joins us for an inspiring wide-ranging conversation that includes: The origins of Badgers and the positive impact they are creating in South Africa. The different “hats” she ne...

Michael Broughton is our remarkable guest today, and if you are curious about how to evolve the commercial model of football properties or the impact that technology can have in sports and the relationship fans have with the clubs they support, this is an episode you do not want to miss! Michael is brilliant at simplifying complex concepts and making them understandable. We start things strong by...

Ferran Prieto, Co-Founder of Everest Talent Management, is our excellent guest today. Ferran helps build strategic partnerships between athletes and organizations and he works with sports legends like Pau Gasol, Juan Mata, and César Azpilicueta. This conversation was so much fun…I could have gone for hours asking questions and I think you will get a ton of value from it. We discussed: How the inve...

In today’s episode, we continue celebrating female leadership in football as we welcome Rocío Ruiz-Berdejo, Head of Marketing at Real Betis, to the show. In case you were not yet aware, Real Betis has become, probably, a landmark example in the realm of sustainability. Rocío is passionate about sports and sustainability, which makes her a perfect fit for the job. In the conversation, we talk about...

Have you ever wondered what it is like to help football clubs implement technology-related projects that have the potential to increase revenues significantly? If so, you are in for a real treat in today’s conversation. Today, we continue our “female leaders in football” series but this time we look at it from the “brand side.” Patricia Peiró Hergueta, Chief Strategy Officer at Telecoming, is our...

Have you ever wondered what it's like to lead the Marketing Department at a football club? Today we welcome Asli Elif Koç, Head of Marketing at Istanbul Basaksehir to the show. The club was founded only 9 years ago but that has not prevented it from winning the league or becoming a regular in European competitions. Asli is passionate about football and you can tell throughout this conversation, in...

We could not think of a better guest to bring to the show to kick off our new series aimed at celebrating and encouraging female leadership in football.  Arianna Criscione, former professional football player for teams like Paris Saint Germain and now Head of Women’s Football at N3xt Sports, joins us for an amazing conversation that touches upon: The current state of Women’s Football and its...

Today, we are very proud to kick off a new series in the World Football Summit podcast aimed at celebrating and encouraging female leadership in football. And to celebrate this, we are doing things a bit differently on this episode. Rather than having one guest to kick it off, we have gone into the vault and rescued some of the best quotes from female speakers at different World Football Summits e...

Today, we have a fantastic conversation for you as we welcome Juan Antón, Commercial Director at Villarreal CF, from LaLiga in Spain, to the show. Juan has been working at the club for 14 years. How many employees do you know that have been able to last that long at a football club? Remember when Jordan Gardner said that Culture is driven by people and that having the right culture and stability g...

Today, we finally welcome our friend Rayde Luis Baez, founder of Sporthink and of The Connect, to the show. Rayde is an expert in helping sports brands define their partnership strategies, understand the role of technology in the sports business model, and how to build a sound business strategy that fuels growth. But most of all, he is a great guy to talk to. In fact, for those of you looking to s...

Optimizing player performance should be at the top of the football industry's agenda…but, is it? This was the question that 11 industry experts asked themselves during a workshop in WFS Europe, in Sevilla, which was led by today's guest. Ismael Fernández is a co-founder of ThermoHuman, who are pioneers in thermography software, and together we go into detail about 5 challenges that seem to stand a...

Jordan Gardner returns to the show, and the timing could not have been better. Jordan has a unique perspective on the different investment trends impacting the industry, given his role as a previous owner of FC Helsingor in Denmark and now, as an advisor to many groups and individuals looking for opportunities in football. In this episode, we talk about: The current ownership models in football ,...

Optimizing for player performance has taken on a whole new meaning over the past few years. It is not only about achieving peak “physical” performance, mental awareness and overall well-being have been found to be just as important. So, for this week's episode, we bring you this amazing panel with 5 top-tier sports industry experts, including: Kirsten Holmes - Vice President, Performance Science a...

After a remarkable 2022, in which record-breaking figures were seen across all fronts, including: Fan attendance Investment Broadcasting deals Partnerships 2023 needs to be the year in which the next level of growth is unlocked, and perhaps more importantly, how can it pave the road toward “profitability.” But, what does it take to make the game more profitable? We went to WFS Europe22 to bring ba...

Today, we welcome Carlos Cantó to the show. Carlos is the founder of SPSG Consulting and has amazing expertise working with some of the biggest names in the sports industry, he is a member of the board at Deportivo de La Coruña, teaches at several top-tier business schools, and is a Member of the World Football Summit advisory board. The reason we wanted to have Carlos on the show is that we have...

Today, we welcome Daniel Bernard to the show. Now, if you don’t know who Daniel is, I suggest you stick around for this fantastic conversation around data strategy, leadership, the power of sports to change the world… We went all over the place!  Daniel has more than 20 years of experience in the sports industry as a Founder & an investor, so he really brings a unique perspective to the t...