Fatma Samoura

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WFS Live confirms status as football industry’s most global gathering
WFS Live confirms status as football industry’s most global gathering 1200 600 WFS Live

The second edition of WFS Live came to an end on Friday, 27 November with a unique Q&A session that saw FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura reflect on her journey since being appointed the first-ever woman to the role and share her insight into how football’s governing body is leading the industry’s global response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The inspiring conversation between Samoura and prestigious sport broadcaster Carol Tshabalala brought the curtain down on an event that once again proved to be football’s most global business gathering.

WFS Live provided first-hand insight into crucial topics affecting the industry, such as when, where and how will fans return to stadiums, what monetisation strategies are being developed to make up for the downfalls and what challenges and opportunities await in the post-pandemic era.

Furthermore, and thanks to World Football Summit’s partnership with Common Goal, WFS Live brought players, clubs, leagues, federations and sponsoring brands together for the first time to reflect on the need to build a more purpose-driven industry, kicking-off a ground-breaking discussion that will be built upon in future events and that will hopefully lead to a brighter and more sustainable future for all the stakeholders.

Day one of WFS Live was entirely devoted to re-imagining the football we want, the game we need, and saw leaders share their views on how to embed purpose in the fabric of the industry, addressing increasingly relevant topics such as gender equality and diversity, global citizenship and athlete activism.

Overall, 150 top-notch industry leaders took the virtual stage in 50 conference sessions, each of which gathered hundreds of attendees on the WFS Live App and also via LIVENow, the on demand streaming platform which aired the summit for the first time.

As in all WFS events, panels were the starting points of the discussions, with conversations continuing across the different networking features of the WFS Live App. The 2,134 attendees from 107 countries made more than 7,000 contacts and shared over 15,000 messages.

Over 700 news items were published in more than 50 different countries, reaching an audience of 3,400,000,000+ worldwide. Among the speakers to make the global headlines at WFS Live were Javier Tebas on his plans to reopen LaLiga stadiums, Samuel Etoo on the future of Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona, and super-agents Jonathan Barnett and Mino Raiola with their strong response to FIFA’s plans to regulate their business.

The WFS Live App and all its networking features will remain available until December 31st for those who still want to make new connections or arrange meetings. Videos of the full panels will be posted on our YouTube channel on January 1st 2021.

In the meantime, CLICK HERE to access highlights of each session.

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Watch: WFS Live Closure with Fatma Samoura – highlights and takeaways
Watch: WFS Live Closure with Fatma Samoura – highlights and takeaways 1917 1077 WFS Live

At the closing session of WFS LIVE, FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura shared insight into the fascinating journey that she’s gone through since being appointed by President Gianni Infantino, in what she described as a game-changing decision taken by a “football visionary”, and discussed some of the most significant changes that football’s governing body has experienced under his leadership.

In a Q&A session conducted by South African sports broadcaster Carol Tshabalala, Mrs. Samoura discussed FIFA’s “ground-breaking” Covid-19 Relief Plan, which according to her “has allowed some normality to come back to football”, and elaborated on the main pillars of FIFA’s vision for 2020-30.

This panel brought to an end the fifth and final day of the second edition of WFS LIVE, a digital conference that over the past week has brought together 150 speakers and over 2,000 attendees from across the globe.

Fatma Samoura, FIFA Secretary General
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Fatma Samoura signs: FIFA Secretary General to close WFS Live
Fatma Samoura signs: FIFA Secretary General to close WFS Live 1200 650 WFS Live

World Football Summit is proud to announce that FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura has joined the line-up of speakers for the upcoming WFS Live digital event that will see football’s global stakeholders come together around the main issues affecting the industry from November 23-27. Samoura will be the guest speaker at the event’s closing session on Friday November 27 at 5.20pm (CET).

Samoura – recently inducted into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame alongside trailblazing women such as Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Hillary Rodham Clinton – was appointed as FIFA’s first female and first African Secretary General in its 116-year history in 2016.

Prior to joining FIFA, Samoura spent 21 years working on high level United Nations (UN) programmes in Italy, the Republic of Djibouti, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Niger, Madagascar, Nigeria, Central America and Central West Asia. Throughout her diplomatic and humanitarian career, her leadership and vision has helped empower women and young people, change lives and protect the environment.

Samoura’s experience in complex development, socio-economics and security, as well as her humanitarian values, have made her a strategic figure in the exemplary set of reforms lead by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, playing a key role in promoting best governance practices, tackling any kind of discrimination and, ultimately, making football truly global.

Samoura will speak with sports broadcaster Carol Tshabalala about her path to FIFA, her work alongside its president Infantino to use football as a tool to bring about positive development, her commitment to championing diversity and much more.

This will be Samoura’s second time participating in a WFS event following the keynote address she delivered at WFS17 in Madrid, where she spoke about what she listed as FIFA’s top priorities: “Promoting development, gender equality and most importantly good governance”.

“We are delighted to have Fatma Samoura speaking at WFS Live. At World Football Summit we believe that for football to continue being the world’s most popular game all stakeholders must acknowledge the need to embed social purpose at the heart of the industry,” said World Football Summit director, Jan Alessie. “No one can provide a more valuable testimony than someone that has a proven record of promoting social development across the globe.”

Widely considered the most influential women in sport, Samoura leads a stellar line-up of speakers that includes key decision makers from across the industry such as NWSL Commissioner, Lisa Baird; football agents Jonathan Barnett and Mino Raiola; Google Head of Sports, Entertainment and Marketing, Kate Johnson; HBSE CEO Scott O’Neil; FIFA Council Member María Sol Muñoz; Founder and Chairman of Aser Ventures, Andrea Radrizzani; and LaLiga President Javier Tebas, to name a few.

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WFS, Ronaldo and Octagon Brasil join forces to kick off football’s new beginning
WFS, Ronaldo and Octagon Brasil join forces to kick off football’s new beginning 2048 1365 WFS Live

The sport industry is facing its biggest challenge in history due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. All major competitions have been forced to pause for over two months and it is highly likely some of them will not resume at all, enforcing multi-million losses across the industry. Among others, the UEFA Champions League, the NBA and the NHL have had to postpone their respective plans to restart several times over the last few weeks and it remains uncertain when and under what conditions they will be able to resume. Until a vaccine is available, travel and restrictions on large public gatherings will remain in place all over the world.

This “new normal” will inevitably lead to a significant decrease in some traditional revenue streams, forcing all stakeholders to rethink business models and pursue new opportunities. This will require the industry’s major players to come together and join forces like never before in order to overcome these obstacles and explore new opportunities.

That communal response will begin at WFS Live powered by Octagon – the first virtual event that will bring together the entirety of the global football industry’s leaders in one place. Top executives from clubs, leagues, federations, broadcasters, agencies and sponsorship brands from every continent will band side by side to lay sound foundations for the sport to continue growing into a new era.

“The importance of World Football Summit for the global football industry is irrefutable. I have been to the summit with Real Valladolid and now I am honoured to promote the event with Octagon Brasil.” – Ronaldo Nazário

From the 6-9 July, more than 50 leaders will address crucial issues such as; how to adapt mass events and venues to the new sanitary context, the need to enhance digital tools to further monetise fan engagement, the best strategies to capitalise on the growing eSports industry, and how to develop new non-linear content formats to engage fans and add value to sponsors while competitions are paused.

WFS Live powered by Octagon will include all features that make the WFS Series the largest and most appreciated networking events in the global football landscape, attracting key decision-makers over the years such as Fatma Samoura, Secretary General of FIFA; Andrea Agnelli, Chairman of Juventus and the European Club Association (ECA); Peter Moore, CEO of Liverpool FC; and Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga; as well as leading partners like Amazon, Banco Santander, Budweiser, and Facebook. This time, however, to the top speakers and the premium networking it will add an entire new range of opportunities powered by the latest AI-driven tools, as well as unprecedented participation from a truly global audience.

WFS Live powered by Octagon is the result of a unique partnership between three global benchmarks in the sport industry: World Football Summit, football’s leading networking platform and event organiser; Octagon Brasil, global leader in sports and entertainment management and marketing; and Ronaldo Nazário, one of the best players the game has ever seen, President of Octagon Brasil and owner of LaLiga’s Real Valladolid. Ronaldo is at the forefront of the new wave of young executives storming the industry thanks to both a deep knowledge of the game and their solid training in the field of management and administration.

NET PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

“The importance of World Football Summit for the global football industry is irrefutable. It provides a multi-stakeholder dialogue; encourages networking; fosters discussions about technologies, innovations and the future of that market; and generates business opportunities. I have been to the summit with Real Valladolid and now I am honoured to promote the event with Octagon Brasil. We are in a pandemic scenario and there are many social, economic, cultural and political impacts. Unsurprisingly, football has not escaped the effects of the outbreak and, therefore, the event is even more necessary. WFS Live powered by Octagon have already confirmed the participation of big names in the industry and will have an unprecedented reach-from home, everyone will be able to follow, contribute and enjoy a whole world of possibilities.” – Ronaldo Nazário.

“Combining Octagon’s enormous prestige and unmatchable network, the unrivalled leadership of Ronaldo and our experience hosting and managing events, we are sure that WFS Live powered by Octagon will kick off a new era for football.” – Jan Alessie

WFS Live powered by Octagon aims to contribute to the growth of the industry, but also to help those communities that have been most severely hit by coronavirus. That’s why all net proceeds will be donated to Fundação Fenômenos, created by Ronaldo in 2012, which supports social projects aiming to improve living conditions of communities across Brasil, and the Common Goal COVID-19 Response Fund, which will support community organisations across the world to deliver essential services during the COVID-19 crisis and to continue supporting vulnerable young people in the aftermath of the crisis.

“At WFS our goal has always been to provide the industry with the best possible platform to come together and explore new growth opportunities. We believe that in the current context this role is more important than ever. Unprecedented challenges call for unprecedented action. That’s what this unique partnership, as well as our commitment as members of Common Goal, is all about. Combining Octagon’s enormous prestige and unmatchable network, the unrivalled leadership of Ronaldo and our experience hosting and managing events, we are sure that WFS Live powered by Octagon will kick off a new era for football.” – Jan Alessie, Director of WFS.

“It is very important for us at Octagon Brasil to be involved in an event of this magnitude, especially at a time like the current one. It is a unique opportunity to connect the market, share content and, of course, contribute to the debate about what the world of football will look like in the coming years. Besides, of course, the unique opportunity to form a partnership with World Football Summit, a reference in football congresses in the world, and to be side by side with Ronaldo, with whom we share so many projects at Octagon.” – Eduardo Baraldi, CEO of Octagon Brasil.

Tickets for WFS Live powered by Octagon will be released in the coming days. In the meantime, you can register your interest here.

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