Manchester City to play ICC football tournament

RNS Number : 9714Y

TLA Worldwide PLC

05 December 2014

 



5 December 2014

TLA Worldwide plc

("TLA" or "the Group")

Manchester City joins Real Madrid to play elite ICC football tournament in Melbourne

The International Champions Cup is being launched in Asia Pacific from next year and is part of  the AIM-listed sports marketing group's developing events business

TLA Worldwide plc (AIM: TLA), a leading athlete representation and sports marketing group, is pleased to announce Manchester City as the second of the world's top football teams to be playing in the elite International Champions Cup (ICC) tournament to be held in Australia next year. The club will compete against Real Madrid and one other premier European club, which will be unveiled for the 2015 fixture in the coming weeks.

As announced on 18 June 2014, TLA has partnered with Nine Live and Relevent Sports, a division of RSE Ventures, to organise, promote and deliver for the first time the annual ICC to the Asia Pacific region from 2015 to 2018 in Australia.  

The three teams will play all their matches in the 2015 fixture  at the prestigious 100,000-capacity  Melbourne Cricket Ground between 18 - 24 July 2015.  The event will run in parallel with the already-established tournament held in the United States and  will  be broadcast live in  150 countries.  

Bart Campbell, Chairman of TLA Worldwide, commented: "Introducing the ICC tournament to Australia and the Asia Pacific region is a key part of TLA's strategy to diversify the sports and regions in which we do business. We are delighted to be bringing the world's most widely followed clubs and famous brands, including current Barclays Premier League champions Manchester City, to Melbourne. With such high calibre teams on board, this tournament is set to make a flying start to our business in the region from next year and will help drive our growth."

Ferran Soriano, Chief Executive of Manchester City FC, said: "We are looking forward, once again, to being a part of the tournament. We are particularly excited to be visiting Melbourne, which is home to our sister Club, Melbourne City FC. We know that it will also be a home away from home for Manchester City and we can't wait to play in front of our Australian fans."

About the ICC:

The ICC, currently hosted only in the US, transforms the traditional European club pre-season tour into an annual competitive global tournament. The first ICC was held in 2013 and broadcast in 150 countries, featuring top clubs from across the world. This year's edition featured Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, A.C. Milan, AS Roma, Inter Milan and Olympiacos in matches across 12 North American cities.  In addition to the tournament final held on 4 August in Miami, which was won by Manchester United over Liverpool (3-1), the marquee match-up between Manchester United and Real Madrid marked an American attendance record for soccer with over 109,000 fans attending this match at the "Big House" at Michigan University.

Enquiries:

TLA Worldwide
Bart Campbell, Chairman Michael Principe, Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Numis Securities
Nick Westlake (Nomad)	[phone]
David Poutney (Broker)
Luther Pendragon
Neil Thapar, Alexis Gore, Amelia Bullock-Muir	[phone]

About TLA Worldwide

TLA Worldwide is a leading athlete representation and sports marketing group quoted on London's AIM. The Group derives revenues from long term agency relationships with many prominent US and international sports stars, broadcasters and media personalities associated with major sports including American Football, baseball, basketball and golf. In addition, it also provides a range of services in respect of media consultancy, sports sponsorship and event production to many sportspeople and corporate clients. A significant proportion of TLA Worldwide's business emanates from baseball where it is a recognised leader, having negotiated over $3bn of contracts over the past 10 years. With over 55 full-time personnel, TLA Worldwide serves its clients through three operating subsidiaries from 10 locations worldwide including its principal offices in London, UK; New York and Newport Beach, USA; and Melbourne, Australia.  For more information, please visit www.tlaww-plc.com.

About International Champions Cup

In the summer of 2013, Relevent Sports revolutionized the international soccer landscape by organizing the inaugural Guinness International Champions Cup, an innovative transformation of the traditional European club preseason tours into a competitive tournament.

The inaugural edition featured eight top clubs -  Real Madrid, Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan, A.C. Milan, Valencia, Everton and the L.A. Galaxy - and culminated with a spectacular final in Miami won by Real Madrid over Chelsea (3-1) in front of nearly 70,000 fans.

While the inaugural edition was played in six U.S. cities and one European city, 2014 was played in a total of 12 cities and 13 stadiums across the United States and Canada.

This year's format consisted of two groups of four in a round-robin format.  Each team played a total of three matches in group play and the two group leaders faced off on 4 August in the final at Sun Life Stadium in Miami.

 

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