ESSMA Stadium Summit 2016 successfully held in Bilbao

The successful two-day event was attended by more than 300 participants from across Europe, a significant increase from last year's event held at the Allianz Arena in Munich. These not only included many ECA Member Clubs representatives, but also professionals from the stadium industry and representatives from other clubs, leagues and national associations, as well as experts from a range of other sports.

The European Club Association was actively involved in the organisation of the event as official partner, alongside the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) and the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS). The main purpose of the Summit was to allow experts from the stadium business to gather and exchange best practices on the latest trends in the industry, notably including fan entertainment, safety & security, commercial exploitation and pitch management.

The programme of the first day included keynote speeches from experts representing Athletic Club, the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA), Heineken and the MLS franchise Sporting Kansas City, as well as a Panel Session about Safety & Security. The first event day was concluded by an in-depth tour of the new San Mamés Stadium, the home of ECA Member Club Athletic Club.

As for the second day, twelve different workshops divided in four main categories such as Fan Entertainment, Exploitation & Operations, Safety, Security & Sustainability and Pitch & Facility Management, were organised. ECA Member Clubs actively contributed to the success of these workshops, notably thanks to the presentations of Valencia CF, Paris Saint-Germain FC, Legia Warszawa SA, Maccabi Haifa FC, FK Kobenhavn, Brondby IF and Viking FK.

The 3rd edition of the ESSMA Stadium Summit will be held at the newly built Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, France, in January 2017. More information can be found on the ESSMA official website.