Gareth Southgate leads top speaker line-up in Athens
Former England manager Gareth Southgate, who led his country to two UEFA European Championship finals and a FIFA World Cup semi-final, will be among a stellar lineup of speakers to address the 31st ECA General Assembly in Athens. The three-day event is largest club football conference in 2024 and will see ECA members of all sizes come together in the Greek capital.
On Wednesday, 9th October, the inaugural ECA Football Leaders Forum and ECA Awards Ceremony will take place. The day will be opened by Leading Authority on the Business of Sport Simon Kuper, who will offer his insights on the future of football in the post-Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo era. With over 30 years of experience in football, Kuper is a highly regarded voice on the European game.
The second keynote speaker on Wednesday will be Anita Elberse, a Professor at Harvard Business School and an award-winning teacher and scholar. Professor Elberse develops and teaches an MBA course covering the "Businesses of Entertainment, Media, and Sports," and chairs a long mentoring programme, "Crossover Into Business," designed for professional athletes.
The morning session on Wednesday will be wrapped up with a special edition of the CBS Champions League Today show. The award winning show hosted by Kate Scott and includes former players such as Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, Micah Richards. That will be followed by a range of Subdivision meetings in the afternoon and a meeting for new ECA Club Members. Whilst the official dinner that evening concludes a packed day one.
The plenary session on the 10th of October will see Gareth Southgate sit down with ECA General Assembly host Reshmin Chowdhury for the second day of the General Assembly for a session titled “Leading a Nation. Coaching a team” in which he reflects on his eight-year tenure with the Three Lions.
The conversation is expected to touch on how his considered man management style guided England to consecutive UEFA European Championship finals, whilst also offering insights to the unique pressures of being a national team coach and dealing with club sides.
The speaker line-up is completed by Dan Reed, Chief Operating Officer, Reality Labs at Meta – named among the “50 Most Influential People in Sports Business” by Sports Business Journal. Reed leads business and product operations for Meta’s augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and metaverse efforts. Previously, he was at the NBA as President of the G League driving a twelve time increase in franchise values via significant growth in revenues, basketball quality and fan engagement.