Local football elite gathers for Palms Bet and LaLiga seminar

More than 80 representatives of the Bulgarian football elite took part in the LaLiga Football Seminar, which was organized by Palms Bet and the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation at the Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia. Among them were representatives of “blue” and “red” Bulgaria, as well as the champion Ludogorets. In addition, the elite Botev Plovdiv and Cherno More, as well as the second-division Dunav Ruse, Sozopol, and Yantra Gabrovo also sent their officials to gain experience from some of the most prominent professionals in Spanish club football and LaLiga.

The reason for organizing the first-of-its-kind event in Bulgaria was the desire of Palms Bet to give the clubs from the Bulgarian championship a chance to exchange ideas with representatives of LaLiga. This happened thanks to the contacts that were established between the native bookmaker and the Spanish football organization after the partnership was signed in the summer of 2022. As a result, Palms Bet became the first official partner of LaLiga within the European Union.

At the beginning of the seminar, His Excellency Alejandro Polanco – Ambassador of Spain in Bulgaria addressed a welcoming speech to all participants. “It is an honor to recommend this workshop. “Bulgaria has a deep tradition with Spanish football. It is such an event that can contribute not only to the development of football, but also to strengthening the ties between the two countries,” said Ambassador Polanco.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome you to this seminar and we hope to repeat it soon,” said Milo Borisov, the ultimate majority shareholder of Telematic Interactive Bulgaria, which is the license holder of the Palms Bet brand. “Through such seminars, we hope our company will contribute to the development of football in our country because we believe that the experience of countries like Spain can be very useful for Bulgarian sport,” he added.
The event was also graced by Rossi McKee, the other ultimate majority shareholder of Telematic Interactive Bulgaria.

The football seminar included topics such as “Strategy and Innovation as Drivers of the Sports Industry” with speaker Aitor Jimenez – Director of Innovation and Development at the Baskonia-Alaves Group, whose ranks include the 2001 UEFA Cup finalist Alaves. This was followed by the highly topical subject of digital strategies to engage fans and was authored by Xiaowei Guo, who is LaLiga’s International Digital Coordinator.

The afternoon panel “Commercial Strategy and Revenue Management” covered topics such as “Partnership and Sponsorship Strategies” with speaker Diego Sanchez – Director of Business Development at Atletico Madrid and “Profit Generation” with Pablo Arcuero – Director of Sponsorship Development at Real Betis.

The seminar ended with a round table and open discussion, in which the guests from Spain took part together with the CEO of CSKA 1948 Dobrin Gjonov the former CEO of PFC Levski, and current UEFA official Pavel Kolev. They discussed issues related to the way of working and development opportunities both in the clubs and in the Bulgarian championship.

“The biggest challenge that we are facing Bulgarian teams is the creation of the product “Bulgarian football” and building a positive image. To achieve this, there must be unity among all those working in this project,” Dobrin Goenov said during the round table, which also discussed the similarities and differences between the Bulgarian football championship and the Spanish LaLiga. The best examples and the experience of the Spanish specialists in managing a football championship were also shared, as well as valuable tips for dealing with the existing problems in our country.

“On behalf of the Baskonia-Alavez group, I would like to express my huge thanks to our hosts from Palms Bet for the opportunity to pass on our experience in Bulgaria,” said Aitor Jimenez.

Xiaowei Guo added that he was honored to introduce LaLiga’s ideas to the fast-paced world of digital services and thanked the native bookmaker for the opportunity.

Among those attending the seminar were school directors, football agents, managers, executives, sports and marketing directors. Among them were the names of former captain and three-time winner of the title “Footballer of Bulgaria” – Ivelin Popov, as well as Elin Topuzakov – the player with the most matches in European club tournaments for Levski.

All the participants expressed their gratitude to the organizers of LaLiga Football Seminar in the face of Palms Bet and Sports in Bulgaria Foundation, as well as for the opportunity to take part in the event.