2017 World Football Forum to be held in China

In a ground-breaking new milestone for Eventica Sport’s annual football industry event, the World Football Forum 2017 will take place in the Chinese city of Changsha from 18th to 21st May.

The World Football Forum’s move to China in 2017 is the culmination of a five-year project to build the event into the meeting place for the people who shape the future of the sport.

The event in 2017 will be the first ever edition to take place outside of Europe, and will bring the global football industry to the heart of football’s ‘new geography’ - to one of the sport’s fastest-growing new markets where President Xi Yinping has prioritised the development of the domestic game, unlocking a vast new market which is leading the pack of emerging football powerhouses of the 21st Century.

Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province in south central China, epitomises the new generation of rapidly rising urban centres in the world’s most populous nation. With a population of approaching 10 million, and an ambitious plan for sports infrastructure development, Changsha is emerging as one of the cities to watch in a country where football is driving development on a nationwide scale. With a recently opened state-of-the-art international conference centre and the fantastic He Long stadium, in the centre of the city, Changsha is well equipped to stage this year’s event.

The World Football Forum will give the international football ecosystem - governing bodies, clubs, and the suppliers and services providers which surround them - a deep understanding of the huge opportunities in this and football’s other ‘emerging markets’, and it will be an ideal platform for learning more about the latest trends in and around the global football industry, direct from internationally recognised leaders.

Li Ping, Director of Changsha Sports Bureau, the government agency responsible for sports development, management and promotion, commented “we are very excited that Changsha will be hosting the World Football Forum - we have developed a football development plan for the city, and the Forum will help us in our aim towards the internationalisation of Changsha sports.”

WFF Director Edward Cowell added “this is a very important year for the World Football Forum as we move the discussion to football’s biggest new hub.

“There is so much to talk about as football takes root and evolves in Asia – and there is no better place to sense this than in China, where the development of the sport in recent years has already had such a huge impact on the game worldwide.”

The geography of football is changing fast - and the World Football Forum will chart the opportunities and the challenges ahead.

The fifth annual World Football Forum in Changsha will be the key event for the key players of the global football industry: the personalities who guide, influence and govern the world’s game.

Yutang Sports will continue to be one of the World Football Forum's media partners after a successful partnership in 2016. 

For more information click here to view the event details on the Australasian Leisure Management industry Calendar.

Images: Hebei China Fortune Football Club's planned new professional training centre (middle) and Guangzhou Olympic Stadium (below).

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