February 24, 2022

Women’s Football, Scouting and Sports Venues will be covered by the new speakers

The first speaker presented here is José Fontes, currently Senior Scout at AS Roma, who works directly with General Manager, Tiago Pinto, and Head Coach, José Mourinho. In 2013, he took his first steps at the service of Leixões SC, as a performance analyst. The following year, he joined the technical staff of Boavista FC, working as a team observer, performance analyst and translator until he caught the eye of Leicester City FC who, in 2016, hired him for the 'Foxes' Scouting Department.

He first took over as Scout and was later promoted to Senior Scout, where he spotted and played a key role in signing players such as Caglar Soyuncu, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira.

Kelly Simmons is Director of the FA Women's Professional Game. With the aim of transforming Women's Professional Football in England, she developed the FA Women's Professional Game strategy.

Previously, she was FA Director of Development, a position that earned her an MBE for services to Football, and the OBE in 2021 for services to Women's Football. She received the BT Sports Industry Award for ‘Leadership in Sport’ in 2016. In 2020 Kelly was named in the ICC All-Star Best IX for ‘doing the most to advance women’s football globally’.

Last but not least, Luís Silva is the Founder and Director of Management and Operations at Bluerock Sports & Entertainment, a company specialised in the operation and marketing of stadiums, arenas and other entertainment venues, partner of the Thinking Football Summit.

He is also manager of the Liga Portugal Arena project, the official headquarters of the Portuguese Professional Football League, bringing all his know-how to this large-scale project.

Share: