- CEOs’ Forum of Dubai Clubs reviews Ways of Increasing Financial Performance Competency & Boosting Assets Value
- Dubai Sports Council organizes 28 International & Local Forums and Workshops Every Year as part of its Strategy to develop Clubs & Football Companies
- Former CEO of Rome Club of Italy specifies Factors of Development & Success in Professional Clubs
Dubai Sports Council (DSC) organized a forum for CEOs of football companies, on Friday 2nd June 2023, as part of the implementation of the Council’s strategic plan to develop football in Dubai sports clubs.
The Forum, under title “Increasing the Value in Football Industry”, was held in the presence of H.E. Saeed Hareb, the Secretary General of DSC / H.E. Naser Aman Al-Rahma, Assistant Secretary General of DSC / CEOs of football companies in Dubai clubs / sports & technical managers, first teams’ managers, academies’ managers and officers of professionalism, marketing, communication & investment in Dubai clubs.
The forum was addressed by Mr. Guido Venga, the Former CEO of Rome Club in Italy.
H.E. Saeed Hareb presented to Mr. Guido Venga the English version of “My Story”, a masterpiece book, written by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Vice President & Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Mr. Guido Venga talked on the governance & financial competency in professional clubs, ways of creating marketing plans & commercial activities, disposing of the club’s assets and patterns of clubs’ ownership. He also spoke about the sports performance competence, talents management strategy, stages of team building, sports manager’s tasks and various elements of success in football academies.
Guido Venga reviewed the patterns of clubs ownership in various countries of the world and referred to some examples from the most famous international clubs of an investment nature. In this regard, there are fully privately owned clubs such as Liverpool Club of England, and other clubs partially owned by the private sector with part of the shares publicly listed such Manchester United Club. Some clubs are subject to golden shares, where decisions are taken by private owners & investors, besides the fans union who have the right of VETO on main decisions; example of this is the SAF Club of Brazil.
Another example is the pattern of clubs owned as per 50 + 1 system, such as Bayer Leverkusen Club, in which fans have the majority right of voting for adoption of decisions.
In the fifth pattern, clubs are fully owned by fan-led associations, which are composed of members who pay annual membership fees to the club, such as the Brazil's Palmeiras.
Guido Venga confirmed that football reflects the eagerness & desire to attain success, and that investment in football is not limited to financial sides & review of technical performance of players only, but it also represents full social life. Community & fans aspects should be placed top on the list of planning, so that the club can attain development & tangible success, referring that he noticed this matter in UAE where there are great attention & care of individuals in society, particularly during the Holy Month of Ramadan.
He explained that positive results are generated from valuable items which can be gained through continuous development of sport. Club development is mainly related to the level of fans’ interactions & responses, and therefore clubs must share their decisions with their fans in order to increase fans interaction and boost their sense of belonging. The team may perform poorly at some stages, and play a low-level match, but its fans still attend to the stadiums to follow & support the team because they have a sense of belonging and consider themselves as an integral part of the club. Clubs must endeavor to have interdependent relations with fans (one-family relation), provided that this matter should be controlled so that team’s support does not reach the stage of negative intolerance that causes losses and damages.
Guido remarked:
"Sports entities must work to achieve an equation comprising four integrated elements, so that clubs can continue to develop and achieve sustainability. These elements are: investment, marketing or promotion, fans loyalty & technical performance of players. There are helping factors to meet the aforementioned elements; these are: football philosophy, facilities’ improvement & education”.
The presence of this international speaker gives special importance to the forum, because of the remarkable status & outstanding development of the Italian clubs, and because the speaker was a CEO of one of the most eminent Italian clubs since 2013. He had also served as communication manager & media manager and therefore he enjoyed enough experience in marketing, media & management fields. Guido had resided in Dubai & thought to launch a program to implement the Italian clubs’ strategy on Dubai clubs.
DSC launches initiatives & programs and organizes training sessions & forums, as part of its strategy aiming to develop clubs & football companies in Dubai. In this regard it is worth-mentioning that DSC organizes more than 28 international & local forums and workshops every year in addition to several sports championships for age groups in various sports games.
News Source: Dubai Media Office
