Soccerex’s first Manchester event worth £1m, says council

THE FOUNDER of the Soccerex football exhibition company, Duncan Revie, haled the inaugural European Forum event held in Manchester back in March as a success as the firm held an official launch for next year’s event at Hilton Manchester’s Cloud 23 bar last night.

Revie, son of former Leeds United boss Don Revie, said that more than 50% of the delegates who attended last year’s event expected to generate more than £100,000 worth of business as a result of their attendance.

“This year, we’ll double that figure,” he pledged.

Soccerex relocated its annual European Forum event to Manchester from London last year after signing a four-year sponsorship deal with Marketing Manchester – the tourism body funded by Manchester City Council.  The next of its annual two-day conferences will take place at Manchester Central next year on March 30-31.

Cllr Mike Amesbury, the council’s executive member for culture and leisure, also hailed the first Soccerex European Form held in the city as “a great success”.

Standing in for council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein, who was attending Manchester City’s Europa League match against Juventus, Cllr Amesbury said that the event had attracted 1,200 delegates and brought  just under £1m worth of economic benefit to the city. He also said it had used the event to forge closer links with other host cities.

The European Forum is one of three annual Soccerex conferences – it also holds an Asian Forum in Singapore and is set to host its World Forum event at Rio de Janeiro in November.

“We very much look forward to taking a strong delegation to the global convention in Rio in November,” said Cllr Amesbury.

“Sport, and in particular, football, has always been synonymous with Manchester. It’s basically part of our DNA. We’re often called the home of football so what better place to hold this forum?”