On 29th September at the Brand Exchange Club, The Power of the Game: How Football Brands Create Global Commercial Value brought together leading voices from football, marketing and sponsorship.
Following one of the most commercially significant and exciting FIFA World Cups in history, the event explored the latest findings from Brand Finance Football 50 2026, revealing the world’s most valuable and strongest football club brands and what the data tells us about sponsorship performance and commercial value.
Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital, joined Brand Finance Chairman David Haigh for a special fireside chat exploring the business of football and where its next wave of commercial growth could come from – from the changing value of media and sponsorship to technology, global audiences and the battle for fans’ attention.
We also turned the spotlight to the Argentine Football Association, with Leandro Petersen, former Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer of AFA, Argentine football legend Javier Saviola, and journalist Bruno Vain, exploring how sporting success, global expansion and commercial strategy have helped build one of football’s most powerful brands.
A huge thank you to all our speakers for sharing their perspectives and contributing to such an engaging and insightful discussion.
Key insights from the discussions:
Football 50 2026: The changing value of football
AFA: Building Argentina into a global football brand
Sir Martin Sorrell & David Haigh: Where does football grow next?
| 16:30 – 17:00 | Registration & Networking |
| 17:00 – 17:05 |
Welcome: Football’s New Commercial Era |
| 17:05 – 17:20 |
Football 50 2026: The Brands That Won - and Lost - Beyond the Pitch |
| 17:20 - 18:05 |
Behind the Badge: How the AFA Became a Global Brand |
| 18:05 - 18:35 | Fireside Discussion | The Power of the Game: How Football Brands Create Global Commercial Value - Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder & Executive Chairman, S4 Capital Plc - David Haigh, Chairman, Brand Finance |
| 18:35 – 18:40 |
The Bottom Line: What the Data Tells Us About Football’s Future |
| 18:40 – 19:30 | Drinks Reception |
Sir Martin Sorrell is Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital PLC, a new age / new era, purely digital advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational, and millennial-driven influencer brands. S4 Capital, which started in 2018, has over 7,000 people in 33 countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under SFOR.L.
Sir Martin was Founder and CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it into the world’s largest advertising and marketing services company, with a market capitalization of over £16 billion, when he left.
He was educated at Cambridge University and Harvard Business School, received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award and was ranked as the second best-performing CEO in the world by the Harvard Business Review in 2016 and 2017.
He has been nominated as one of the TIME 100 Most Influential People.
Javier Saviola is a former Argentina international footballer and one of the most celebrated players of his generation. A product of River Plate’s youth academy, he went on to represent some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Benfica, Sevilla and Monaco. Saviola earned 39 caps for Argentina, winning Olympic gold at Athens 2004, and was the top scorer and best player at the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Championship. Named by Pelé among the FIFA 100, he is now a UEFA Pro Licence coach and Barça Legend, as well as an ambassador for the Argentina Football Association (AFA) at international events, supporting the global growth of Argentine football.
Leandro Petersen is an executive, entrepreneur and international speaker with more than 20 years of experience across marketing, commercial development, sports management and brand building.
From 2017 to 2026, he served as Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), leading its commercial and marketing strategy through a period of significant transformation and international expansion. His work helped develop AFA and the Argentina national team into a global brand and commercial platform, expanding its international presence, sponsorship ecosystem and opportunities across licensing, content, experiences and new markets.
In 2026, Petersen founded TAI (Think. Act. Inspire.), a company connecting brands with sport, entertainment and culture through strategy, creativity and business development. He is also an international speaker on brand transformation, leadership, sports marketing, commercial growth and international expansion.
Bruno Vain is a multifaceted TV host and sports presenter. Currently he works for Apple TV where he is one of the main playby-play broadcasters for MLS, including Lionel Messi\\\'s Inter Miami matches.
Bruno began his career in Argentina in the 90\\\'s, where he gained popularity through \\\"La Magia de Ila NBA\\\", a weekly NBA show recognized by the NBA as one of the top productions among the more than 150 countries where it distributes its content. One of the main anchors at DirecTV Latin America, Bruno has been an integral part of the network\\\'s coverage of major events such as FIFA World Cup 2018 from Russia, FIBA World Cup 2019 from China, Summer 2016 Olympics from Rio de Janeiro and Copa America Centenario 2016 from the US. Bruno was also among DirecTV Sports main anchors & studio hosts for the network\\\'s coverage of 2014 FIFA World Cup from Brazil and basketball\\\'s 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup from Spain.
Since joining DirecTV Sports in 2007, Bruno also hosted the network\\\'s coverage of Summer 2012 Olympics from London, FIFA World Cup 2010 from South Africa, FIBA World Cup 2010 from Turkey, Under 20 FIFA World Cup 2011 from Colombia, numerous NBA Finals, and 2011 FIBA Americas Championship from Argentina, among many others.
Bruno has also anchored DirecTV Sports coverage of Premier League, La Liga and NBA. His Premier League expertise includes over 9 seasons of play-by-play plus anchoring \\\"La Previa de la Premier League\\\" and \\\"Lo Mejor de la Premier League\\\". Bruno was an integral part of some of DirecTV\\\'s major milestones, such as its first live HD broadcast for Latin America at \\\"El Clasico\\\", Barcelona vs Real Madrid. Combining his experience at GolTV and DirecTV Latin America, Bruno has narrated over 7 seasons of La Liga matches, which coincided with the arrival and development of Lionel Messi at Barcelona
David is the Chairman of Brand Finance Plc – the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand, and intangible asset valuation since 1991. He specialised entirely in the field after becoming the Director of Brand Valuation for Interbrand in 1995. He subsequently left Interbrand in 1996 to launch Brand Finance which is celebrating 25 years in business this year.
David represented the British Standards Institution in the working parties responsible for crafting international industry standards: ISO 10668 on Brand Valuation in 2010 and ISO 20671 on Brand Evaluation in 2019.
David is a passionate writer and has authored many articles on brand valuation, published in numerous marketing and finance newspapers and magazines, such as: Financial Times, Accountancy Age, and Marketing Week. He has also lectured on the topic of brand valuation for Harvard, Chicago, and London Business Schools.
David graduated from Bristol University with an English degree, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London, and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He is a Fellow of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and has a practising certificate with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
Richard has over a decade in value-based marketing, brand valuation and intangible asset valuation. He sat on the ISO Technical Committee 289 on Brand Valuation and contributed to the Brand Evaluation standard ISO 20671. He lectures on brand valuation and other topics to business schools and has a regular guest lecture series at London Business School.
While at Brand Finance he has overseen an array of the internal initiatives and studies while also leading many of the client relationships. With experience from B2B and B2C industries and brands, Richard has worked across all of Brand Finance’s service lines as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) and member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing but particularly specialises in valuation.
In addition, he has a BA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.
Scott specialises in sports sponsorship consultancy for corporate brands and rightsholders; encompassing brand valuation, business impact modelling, sponsorship strategy and sponsorship return on investment.
Scott is part of Brand Finance's Sports Services team, supporting on sports-specific projects and the Football 50 league tables. The team actively engage project teams to provide and execute bespoke bolt-on and/or independent sports services for existing clients who have a sports sponsorship portfolio.
Previous experience across sports and entertainment sponsorship has involved notable clients including PepsiCo (UEFA), British Gas (BOA/BPA, SRU), Vodafone (Wimbledon), Compare the Market (ECB), Activision Blizzard and BAFTA.
Scott holds a BSc in Management from the London School of Economics and a MSc in Sport Policy, Management & International Development from the University of Edinburgh.
