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As part of a long-lasting institutional partnership, LaLiga will be playing a key part in the inaugural Soccerex China – Zhuhai, April 17/18 – with three representatives of the top-tier Spanish football league speaking about sponsorship, data management and league business at the event.
In addition, the event will see the participation of LaLiga clubs, FC Barcelona, Eibar, Las Palmas, Levante and Real Madrid, with the current LaLiga champions to make a presentation about their business strategy in China.
At Soccerex China, representatives of LaLiga will be speaking about sponsorship a wide range of topics such as the Chinese sports market and the potential for sponsorship, LaLiga’s Data Centre and how it is used to distribute information and to fight against match fixing and league strategies for business growth and expanding into new markets. The following LaLiga representatives will be taking part as speakers in the conference programme:
– Adolfo Bara, Managing Director, Sales & Marketing
– Alfredo Lorenzo, Integrity & Security Director
– Sergi Torrents, Country Manager, China
Adolfo Bara will be joining a panel session titled ‘Sponsorship and China’s Sports Economy’ alongside Loic Biver, General Manager of Hublot Greater China; Shoto Zhu, Founder & CEO of OCEANS Sports & Entertainment; and Li Shuangfu, Co-founder of Lanxiong Sports, who will be moderating the panel. In this session, these experts will discuss the trends in the Chinese sponsorship landscape and what the future might hold for the market Chinese sports market.
In his career, Adolfo Bara has been involved in many high profile companies and clubs, starting with adidas in 1997 as Director of International Football. In 2003, Bara moved onto the position of the Marketing Director at Real Sociedad and then a similar role at Espanyol. Bara then chose to move away from football clubs and joined Sport2c as Marketing Director where his responsibilities included merchandising, licensing and sponsoring. Bara is now Managing Director of Sales and Marketing at LaLiga and has been for the past 3 years.
LaLiga’s Integrity and Security Director Alfredo Lorenzo will be joining the session ‘LaLiga Data Centre: Match Fixing and Data Distribution Strategies’ alongside Jake Marsh, Head of Integrity of Perform Group and Gerardo Riquelme, Deputy General of Marca, who will be moderating the session. In this session, LaLiga and Perform Group will explain how their common project came about, the impact they see it having on LaLiga’s data use and its effect on LaLiga’s overall development strategy.
Alfredo Lorenzo is former Chief Inspector of the National Police with 18 years in service in the field of major sporting events safety and security. In January 2015, he was called to create the Security Department at LaLiga and in June he was appointed to deal with integrity matters. The Department he is leading is in charge of the implementation of the Integrity policy in professional football, fighting against corruption, manipulation of the competition and illegal betting, as well as activities related to violence prevention and safety and security standards in the top two Spanish football categories.
Sergi Torrents, Country Manager LaLiga in China will be joining the panel session titled ‘Lessons for League Success’ alongside Richard Young, Managing Director of NFL China, David Dein, former Vice-Chairman of Arsenal and The FA, Jim Small, Vice President of the MLB in Asia and Andrew Collins, CEO of Mailman, who will be moderating the panel. In this session, international league chiefs will reveal their lessons for league success and share their views about the possibility of establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with other leagues and international organisations to expand into new territories.
Sergi Torrents is an experienced international sports marketing expert with over 15 years in the industry and with 12 years of marketing and business experiences in China market, working mainly for football properties, but as well, for Basketball and Motor Sports properties, as Euroleague Basketball and Formula E. He joined LaLiga as Country Manager for Greater China in 2014, and he is in charge of all the operations in the territory.
Soccerex Owner & COO Rita Revie commented, “We are thrilled to have LaLiga’s support for our inaugural Soccerex China. The league’s global expansion has been hugely impressive these past few years and we hope to contribute together to the development of football in the region. China is investing heavily to catch up with the world’s football superpowers with a well structured and ambitious plan that has already attracted more than 500 million fans, which clearly shows the immense football potential football this great country has.”
LaLiga will be part of a conference programme with FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, former football players Deco and Crespo and global elite organisations such as Wanda Sports, Desports, United Bid 2026 and top European clubs such as AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, to name a few, who will deliver unique business insight across a variety of key sectors and subject matters ranging from sponsorship and fan engagement to technological innovations and eSports.
The event will also feature unparalleled networking opportunities and a mix of targeted and structured networking sessions. A programme of social events completes the agenda for Soccerex’s inaugural football business event in China.
