Wallace (Centre) joins fellow former IMG Media employees Ioris Franchini (L) and Floris Weisz (R). (Iris Sport Media)

Sports media consultancy firm Iris Sports Media has named Graham Wallace, the former chief financial officer of global media of IMG Media, as its new chief corporate and financial officer.

Wallace joins the company immediately, having most recently served as the group chief of corporate and financial officer at Aser Ventures, a sports and media-focused investment firm.

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Wallace served at the company between May 2020 and December 2023, functioning as part of a team that oversaw the sales of sports broadcaster Eleven Sports to DAZN, and soccer club Leeds United to the San Francisco 49ers.

Before this, Wallace accrued a wide array of experience in the worlds of both sport and media, serving as the chief executive of Scottish soccer giants Rangers, and as the chief operating officer/chief financial officer of England’s Manchester City.

Iris Sports Media, which launched in October 2023, was founded by Ioris Franchini, the former president of IMG Media, the media arm of the international sports and entertainment agency, alongside fellow former IMG coworkers Luca Baldanza and Floris Weisz.

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Franchini, who served as IMG Media president between May 2014 and December 2019, was named vice president of Aser Ventures in 2022, during Wallace’s time with the company, before leaving to found Iris.

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 Iris has already made inroads into the sports media market in its short existence. In November 2023, the company was appointed as a sales agent for media rights covering Africa-zone qualifying matches in advance of men's soccer’s 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The firm has been selected to sell those rights across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, by the Saudi Sports Company (SSC), which was itself awarded the global rights for the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) 2026 qualifiers after a tender process.