As the first half of the football season its coming to an end, we would like to reflect on our journey so far. Organising and managing projects in nine different European countries since the summer and working with teams from seven different nations underlines ESEM’s position as a truly European company. We covered everything from Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Youth League games, to World Cup qualifying matches, international friendly games and training camps.
The 2016/17 season started as early as late June with our first summer training camp, followed by the early stages of the Champions League and Europa League qualifying rounds, which are a great opportunity to work in lesser known destinations and meet some great people who make football so special.
The Champions League and Europa League group stage draw is the start for a very busy period, with the first clubs visiting the match locations for inspection visits just couple of days after opponents and dates are known. Team hotels are being inspected and shortlisted, accommodation for sponsors, journalists and supporters chosen, restaurants for sponsors lunches and dinners picked, timings and details discussed.
September, October and November were very busy months, with Champions League projects across the UK and the European continent and ESEM being involved in five out of six match days of the competition. Our first match in Manchester became a memorable one, as freak weather forced the cancellation of the match between Manchester City and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Find out what happened and how we handled the situation, by reading this article: http://esem-europe.com/rain-stopped-play-manchester/.
Projects in England, Scotland, Wales, Austria, Lithuania, Turkey, Portugal, Spain and Italy followed and we are now waiting for the outcome of the knock-out stage draw of the Champions League and Europa League and are preparing our winter training camp season in Spain.
A big thank you to our clients, football clubs and their travel agencies, our suppliers, from hotels and transport companies, to restaurants, multi-lingual guides and project managers, for making these projects a success.
ESEM’s running total of European football projects now looks like this:
