JEDDAH – Jeddah is gearing up for the first Sports Investment Forum on football on Sept. 9 and 10. The two-day meeting will bring international guests to this coastal city to discuss the problems of football in the era of globalization. Sport has already changed the frontiers for being a fan, offering in every continent new images and attractions, up to the point of transforming the globe into one huge potential market. For this reason it is right to wonder what the future of the world's most popular sport will give us, in keeping with the performances which countries such as Japan, Korea, and even Canada, are achieving at the Olympics. The initiative approved by Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal, President, General Presidency of Youth Wefare, and long hoped for by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce (JCCI), with the cooperation of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), will open the doors of the Jeddah Park Hyatt to stars with popular following such as George Weah and Hernan Crespo, as well as important directors and managers. There will be the Director of the Italian Football League (Lega Calcio), Marco Brunelli, as well as Inter Milan, the World Club champion in 2010. We will hear from Richard Cheesman, the managers who have studied the operation of Wembley stadium and the future management of the Maracanà Stadium in Rio, the main ground for the 2014 World Cup. Mike Farnan, one of the most outstanding executives in the Premier League, will explain what marketing really means in football's leading market. The thread which unites all the themes at the first Sports Investment Forum is the passion for a game that can be both a medium and a solid business. Football has the merit of being able to stimulate the interests of numerous countries and billions of people. In this sense it aims at the development and emergence of new talent at both technical and managerial levels. Asia and the Middle East represent the future and the Jeddah Forum will seek to look more closely at their main features. Hernan Crespo is an extraordinary world-class striker from Argentina, with a profound knowledge of European football, a winner, and perhaps still capable of playing at the top level. George Weah was included in the list of the great players of the century directly by Pelè and FIFA, out of respect for a champion who has won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year awards, after receiving the most important African awards and before turning to politics, his country and humanitarian matters. This is the message that George Weah issued in light of his forthcoming visit to Saudi Arabia: Dear Friends and Partners, The first Jeddah Sports Investment Forum, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to organize, recognize leaders of tomorrow. Its goal is to encourage people around the world through sports, to invest, promote diversity, and create possibilities to propel excellence. — Ambassador George M. Weah. — SG
