Delegates score on South Africa mission

New overseas business was the goal of a recent trade mission, which headed from South Yorkshire into South Africa.

The mission, led by the South Yorkshire International Trade Centre (SYITC), included a visit to one of the highlights of the football calendar – ‘Soccerex’, this year hosted by Johannesburg, South Africa. Now in its 11th year, Soccerex has established itself as the only global convention dedicated to the professional b2b football environment.

The four-day event incorporates an international conference, exhibition and festival, attended by football’s senior decision makers and where workshops run by industry experts provide an invaluable insight into the ‘beautiful game’.

Delegates attending Soccerex 2007 via the SYITC’s trade mission included ‘Football Unites, Racism Divides’, Comagogo, Football Factors and Sheffield FC.

The Prime Minister’s ambassador for the 2018 England World Cup bid and Sheffield FC’s honorary vice president Richard Caborn also spoke at one of the Soccerex seminars.

The delegates were able to showcase their products and services at the international forum – and it paid off for many including Sheffield FC, currently celebrating its 150th anniversary year with the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.

Sheffield FC’s team manager Dave McCarthy said: “Soccerex was obviously the most useful of the activities on the mission. It gave us the opportunity to meet like-minded clubs and businesses from the world of football.

“We met companies from overseas which will we hope prove extremely useful. We made some excellent contacts. I would say that we returned with at least eight positive pieces of business, all as a result of the mission.

“It was a great mission for everyone concerned with Sheffield FC. We certainly appreciate the work that went into getting us to Africa and are grateful for the progress that this will hopefully bring to our business.”

SYITC international trade advisor Heather Guile said: “Football is a multibillion-dollar industry as evidenced by last year’s Soccerex which saw more than £350 million worth of business signed off.

“We hope the 2007 event will be just as fruitful for our delegates and hope the mission kicked off a lot of potential business opportunities for them.”