International agency will handle sponsorship sales and the official merchandise programme on behalf of the Organising Committee
Sport: Volleyball

Milan / Rome, Italy, 23 September 2009 – Infront Sports & Media, one of the world’s leading international sports marketing companies, has been appointed by the Organising Committee of the 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championships in Italy. The announcement was made 365 days prior to the start of the competition at a press conference in Rome.

The most important international volleyball event
The 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championship – taking place every four years – is the most important international event in world volleyball and will be held from 24 September to 10 October 2010 in 10 host cities: Ancona, Catania, Florence, Milan (opening game), Modena, Reggio Calabria, Rome (final), Turin, Trieste and Verona.

24 national teams play a total of 78 games. In addition to the defending champions Brazil and hosts Italy, the teams of Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Tunisia, the USA and Venezuela have qualified.

Infront will handle the distribution of most sponsorship rights, including the categories Title/Presenting Sponsor, Top Sponsors, Official Partners and Suppliers. In addition it will provide high-quality services in the area of hospitality, sponsorship implementation and advertising solutions. As a full-service agency, Infront is equipped to provide a particularly wide range of specialised services for major events throughout the world.

16 year experience in the sport
Infront’s Milan based subsidiary Infront Italy has extensive marketing experience in volleyball, gained through its involvement in marketing and advertising rights for the CEV Men’s European Championship 2005; the FIVB World League Final Rome 2004; the Italian stages of Main Events FIPAV (World League and Grand Prix) from 2005 to 2007 and through handling all commercial rights – sponsorship, marketing and television – for the Italian Beach Volley Masters Series in 2006 and 2007.

Marco Bogarelli, President of Infront Italy and Member of the Infront Board, added: “The FIVB World Championships represent an important opportunity to build on our 16 year experience in the sport resulting from our involvement with the CEV European Championship since 1993. We have formed a dedicated team for this event and it has already made a start on implementing the many tasks that need to be done. This is an exciting new challenge – to raise the commercial return of volleyball’s top event through our innovative marketing skills and services.”

Philippe Blatter, Infront’s President & CEO commented: “The appointment as exclusive marketing partner to the 2010 FIVB World Championship once again confirms Infront’s strong international position in summer sports. Besides football, handball and motor sports, volleyball becomes an increasingly important pillar of our prestigious rights portfolio. Overall, we are looking forward to deliver over 1,800 event days and 13 World Championship events in 2010 at the highest quality level.”

Broad international following
The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) is one of the world’s most international federations, with 220 affiliated National Federations. There are an estimated 500 million volleyball players worldwide, 33 million of whom are licensed players. The international following for this popular sport is confirmed by the cumulative television audience of 5.4 billion viewers for all FIVB events last year.

For the 2010 event, Italy’s public broadcaster RAI has already acquired the exclusive television rights for all games in Italy. Extensive broadcast coverage is available in 30 markets worldwide through free- and pay-TV platforms as well as broadband, mobile and radio coverage. More than half a million cumulative spectators are expected to attend the event onsite.

Volleyball Nation Italy
In Italy, the national federation (FIPAV) is the second largest to the FIGC (Italian Football Federation) in terms of registered members, attracting strong loyalty and with widespread local roots. In Italy, there are 327,000 members and nearly 5,000 sports clubs. This has produced an average annual growth in the sport of 4.3% over the past six years. It is widely played in schools, so it is especially strong at the youth level, played by 58% of the under 14’s.

Carlo Salvatori, Chairman of the Organising Committee 2010 FIVB World Championships said: “Through the involvement of institutional contacts, industry and individuals, through the expertise of Infront, our objectives are twofold: Firstly to increase the following for and practice of volleyball in Italy and secondly to promote Italy’s appeal as a destination for major international sporting events.”


For further information, please contact:

Joerg Polzer
Manager, Communication & PR
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-79-77 22 548
press@infrontsports.com

Giovanni Manfroni
Press Officer
Organising Committee 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championships
Tel. +34 06 80 69 00 93
Mob. +34 346 96 94 651
giovanni.manfroni@volley2010.com