iSportconnect Directors' Club Announces New Dates

iSportconnect Directors' Club have announced three new dates for its London, New York and Munich Directors' Club events, returning to London on October 3 and Munich on October 17. New York will also host the event for the first time on November 5.

iSportconnect Directors' Club London, in partnership with Generate Sponsorship and Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, continues to secure high profile speakers with Roger Draper, Chief Executive of the Lawn Tennis Association, and Barry Hearn, Chairman of Matchroom Sport, the Professional Darts Corporation, World Snooker and Leyton Orient FC, already signed up to take part in the panel discussion.

"The iSportconnect Directors' Club provides a high quality forum for a challenging and open debate amongst some of the leading people in British sport about the opportunities and issues facing our industry, as well as a great networking platform, and so I'm delighted to be part of the panel for this event," said Roger Draper.

Founder and CEO of iSportconnect Sree Varma said, "Following the success of our inaugural London and Munich events, we are pleased to announce further dates as well as New York as a new venue. We've received an excellent response from the first events, attracting high profile speakers from across the industry. Many guests said the Question Time-style discussion panel was a unique feature and something that the sports industry has lacked. We're also delighted Roger Draper and Barry Hearn are able to join us for our next London event and we're looking forward to making further speaker announcements in the coming weeks."

iSportconnect Directors' Club is an exclusive event for sports industry leaders to share market insight and best practice and invites senior decision makers in the sponsorship industry to share high level insight and opinion on business trends and relevant industry news.

A specially invited audience of premium iSportconnect members will offer questions to speakers through a 'Question Time' style panel, followed by a networking opportunity in a relaxed environment.

Further panellists will be announced in the coming weeks.

To register interest go to www.isportconnect.com .

2011/12 UEFA Champions League: Quarterfinal draw out

The draw for the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals was held today in Nyon, Switzerland. And all the remaining clubs in the competition aim to reach the final to be played on May 19, 2012 at the Allianz Arena in Munich. In the draw were eight clubs from seven nations from across the continent for Europe's premier club competition.

The first leg would be played on March 27/28, while the return leg would be played on April 3/4. The highlight will be the AC Milan vs FC Barcelona matches, who face each other again after having played against each other in the group stage. Barca's Spanish rivals Real Madrid have the easiest tie on paper as they first travel to Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia. Meanwhile FC Bayern Munich face Olympique Marseille and FC Chelsea take on Benfica Lisboa in ties which the two first named sides would be the favourites.

The semifinals will be played on April 17/18 and 24/25 with the winner of APOEL Nicosia/Real Madrid taking on Olympique Marseille/FC Bayern Munich and the second semifinal would be between FC Chelsea/Benfica Lisboa and AC Milan/FC Barcelona.


The Fixtures

The Quarterfinal Fixtures
APOEL Nicosia - Real Madrid CF
Olympique de Marseille - FC Bayern Munich
FC Chelsea - SL Benfica Lisboa
AC Milan - FC Barcelona

Potential Semifinals
APOEL Nicosia/Real Madrid - Olympique Marseille/FC Bayern Munich
FC Chelsea/Benfica Lisboa - AC Milan/FC Barcelona

Draw for the UEFA Champions League groups done

The draw for the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage was held today at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, Monaco. And all the participating clubs aim to reach the final to be played on May 2012 at Munich's Allianz Arena.

The strongest of all groups is Group A containing German giants FC Bayern Munich, who will aim to reach the finals at home. But in the group stage they play Spanish side FC Villarreal, high spending English club Manchester City and rejuvenated SSC Napoli.

Defending champions FC Barcelona have a rather easy group as they and Italy's AC Milan are favourites over FC BATE Borisov from Belarus and Czech newcomers FC Viktoria Plzen.


The Groups

Group A: FC Bayern München (Germany), Villarreal CF (Spain), Manchester City FC (England), SSC Napoli (Italy)

Group B: FC Internazionale Milano (Italy), PFC CSKA Moskva (Russia), LOSC Lille Métropole (France), Trabzonspor AS (Turkey)

Group C: Manchester United FC (England), SL Benfica (Portugal), FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland), FC Otelul Galati (Romania)

Group D: Real Madrid CF (Spain), Olympique Lyonnais (France), AFC Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands), GNK Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)

Group E: Chelsea FC (England), Valencia CF (Spain), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany), KRC Genk (Belgium)

Group F: Arsenal FC (England), Olympique de Marseille (France), Olympiacos Piräus FC (Greece), Borussia Dortmund (Germany)

Group G: FC Porto (Portugal), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), FC Zenit St Petersburg (Russia), APOEL FC (Cyprus)

Group H: FC Barcelona (Spain), AC Milan (Italy), FC BATE Borisov (Belarus), FC Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)