Mumbai: Some of India’s top media agencies will be taking to the field next week for the 4th ‘BBC World News Football Connect’, a five-a-side football tournament hosted by BBC World News. Launched in 2014, this annual competition aims to bring together media agencies for a game of football and a chance to claim the event’s top title.
Taking place at Cooperage Ground astro turf field in Mumbai on Friday, 21st July, BBC World News Football Connect 2017 will highlight the international news channel’s significant sports offer both on TV and online at BBC.com.
More than 250 associates from the media industry are estimated to attend the event, representing the top media agencies, including CEOs and senior planners. And this year there is a particular focus on getting more women involved with the introduction of a ‘Golden Goal’ penalty shoot-out. Every team has to nominate two women, one would take the penalty and the other would be a goalkeeper, encouraging female participants to play significant roles in teams. At the start of each match the nominated women would get three penalty shots and the goals scored would be added to the final score if the game ends in a tie. This is justone of the many highlights of the day which is now a ‘must-attend’ event for many in the industry, as it blends networking with high quality sporting spirit.
The tournament will begin with league matches and conclude with a final match and awards ceremony. But while the teams take on each other on the field, there will also be plenty of action on the side-lines. There will be a VIP fan zone where fans can cheer the teams, participate in a foodball competition or test their teamwork skills, working collaboratively to build the tallest tower possible using 4ft jenga-style blocks, plus a host of other activities where they can challenge the hosts and score merchandise.
The event has gained a lot of attention in the past few weeks with its recently concluded media agency drive in Mumbai where the BBC World News Football Connect team built a football environment in offices and encouraged media agency personnel to challenge their colleagues over a penalty shoot-out competition. This has also encouraged wider teams in these media agencies to join the event to cheer for their favorites quads.
Looking forward to BBC World News Football Connect 2017, Vishal Bhatnagar, Sales Director, South Asia, for BBC Advertising said,“We are excited to be back with BBC World News Football Connect 2017, an initiative which has been well received and appreciated by the media community over the last four years. BBC World News and BBC.com are amongst the top news platforms in India and this makes BBC World News Football Connect 2017 a key platform for sharing our brand values with our associates, and for showcasing our various offerings across World News, .com, the mobile app and other platforms. We are confident of having significant participation this year, along with a display of high quality football.”
