Porto hosts the Thinking Football Summit promoted by the Liga Portugal

Porto City Hall provided the Super Bock Arena - Pavilhão Rosa Mota, as unanimously adopted during the Executive Meeting held yesterday, to the Portugal League Thinking Football Summit, a European event that will take place between 2 and 5 September.

The Thinking Football Summit, which is promoted by the Portugal League, will have an estimate financial impact of 4.5 million euros. The support to the implementation of this initiative is formalised for four editions, until 2024.

This “Football Fair”, in the wording of the Portugal League, will bring together conferences, information seminars, summit meetings of presidents, debates on the social importance of football, a business space and networking promotion between businesses and companies, as well, “without forgetting the entertainment focus with eSports and other initiatives that join football fans and families”, as mentioned in the proposal signed by the Councillor for Youth and Sports of Porto City Hall, Catarina Araújo and unanimously adopted by the Municipal Executive yesterday, 3 May.

Pedro Proença, president of the Portuguese League for Professional Football attended the Executive Meeting and affirmed that this will be “an iconic project”, with a clear goal of “putting the city of Porto at the centre of the world football for four days”, in a debate that will gather not only FIFA, UEFA, but also all the major international leagues, with the outlining goal of debating the football industry.

“The main purpose is to organise an annual event that gathers clubs, invitees and international stakeholders, sponsors and partners, startups and companies that bet heavily on technological innovation in football. This will be the major international football summit”, Proença enhanced, during the presentation, adding that the professional football sector contributted 0.3% annually to the national GDP.

This first edition of the Thinking Football Summit features over 100 activities, 40 conferences, 96 speakers and gathers one thousand professionals of the sector, 150 companies, and 150 staff members.

“The target audiences are fans, students, (even because we are investing in professional players training), companies that bet on brand activation and all the professionals in the sector”, furthered Pedro Proença.

The enveloping area of Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota will host a fun zone and a mini stadium, where participants will be able to see “major football legends”.