Industry Shorts: Ac Milan, Homeless World Cup, Aeltc, Sodexo
AC Milan has been banned from competing in next year’s UEFA Europa League after violating Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
The decision was announced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled in favour of UEFA. CAS has ratified the Italian club’s voluntary acceptance of a one-year ban from the Europa League in settlement of breaches of the UEFA Club Licensing and FFP regulations from 2014-2017 and 2015-2018.
AC Milan finished fifth in Serie A last season, but sixth-placed AS Roma will now take its place in the group stages of the 2019/20 Europa League. Torino, which finished seventh, will enter the qualifying rounds instead of Roma.
The Homeless World Cup Foundation has launched the official bid process for the 2021-2024 editions of the tournament and appointed The Sports Consultancy to manage the process.
The Homeless World Cup takes place every year and features more than 450 players representing 50-plus countries. Cities interested in hosting the 2021, 2022, 2023 or 2024 editions have been invited to submit an expression of interest by 9th August.
Matt Wilson, Director of Consulting at The Sports Consultancy, said: “Many cities we work with have mixed strategic ambitions and this event taps into a new area of public-sector funding to the usual sports and cultural events.”
Tennis legend Billie Jean King has linked up with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) to discuss the issues of sports, sexuality, empowerment and individuality in a Wimbledon-first ‘Inclusive Leadership’ event ahead of this year’s tournament.
The event was a collaboration between AELTC, the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative (BJKLI) and Pride Sports, which seeks to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport and improve LGBT+ people’s access to sport around the world.
The event saw more than 30 individuals from the likes of Pride Sports, Youth Sport Trust, Sport & Recreation Alliance, The Proud Trust, Educate & Celebrate, London Romans F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and the Ricards Lodge School given a behind-the-scenes tour at Wimbledon before meeting with King, who founded the BJKLI with her partner Ilana Kloss in 2014.
Sodexo has been awarded a new 15-year, £100m contract by Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) and Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletics (LCF&A) to continue providing hospitality and public catering services at Headingley Stadium.
The stadium serves as the home of Yorkshire Cricket and the Leeds Rhinos rugby league club. The new contract builds on Sodexo’s eight-year partnership with YCCC and LCF&A.
As part of the agreement, Sodexo will provide a full-time team of 14 and more than 1,000 temporary staff for catering and hospitality services for all matches at the stadium.
The ATP Champions Tour will make its 23rd appearance at the Royal Albert Hall later this year.
The event will feature Martina Hingis and recently-retired David Ferrer, as well as former British no.1 Tim Henman and 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanišević. The four-day tournament begins on 28th November and will feature an afternoon and an evening session per day.
More player announcements are due in the coming weeks. Since the inception of ATP Champions Tour in 1997, the likes of John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras have all competed.
