January 25 – The World Football Forum is heading to the Chinese city of Changsha for its 2017 event from May 18-21.
Now in its fifth edition, it is the first time it has been held outside of Europe having been held in Moscow and last year in Paris during the European championships.
In terms of content the World Football Forum has increasingly focussed on what it calls “football’s new geography”. By taking the conference to China it will be locating right in the heart of that new geography in a city that is developing its football ambition.
Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province in south central China, has 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. The city has recently opened a state-of-the-art international conference centre while the impressive He Long stadium is one of the venues that form part China’s hosting bid for the Asian Cup in 2023.
Director of Changsha Sports Bureau, the government agency responsible for sports development, management and promotion, Ms. Li Ping said: “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.”
The World Football Forum is a mix of governing bodies, clubs, and the suppliers and services providers which surround them. Its aim is to provide an insight into the opportunities in footballs ‘emerging markets’ and, say the organisers “will be an ideal platform for learning more about the latest trends in and around the global football industry, direct from internationally recognised leaders.”
Edward Cowell, WFF Director, said: “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 WFF is now taking registrations of interest at http://www.worldfootballforum.org
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