Sports Media Report
Relevent Sports Group (RSG), the premier soccer events and media business in North America and Asia, and COPA90, football’s definitive youth media brand with 650 million views per month, announced today their international partnership for streaming rights of the 2019 International Champions Cup (ICC) Futures tournament.
The partnership means that fans outside of the United States, Mexico and Central America can stream ICC Futures tournament matches globally through COPA90’s Facebook pages, giving audiences exclusive access to live action from the youth soccer tournament in Florida.
“We were blown away during last year’s ICC Futures with the amount of international interest in our tournament, with over half a million fans streaming our matches worldwide,” said RSG CEO Daniel Sillman. “This partnership with COPA90 will greatly expand our reach and allow millions to have a first look at the next generation of soccer stars compete.”
Ross Whittow-Williams, Chief Operating Officer COPA90, said: ”We are extremely excited to be partnering with RSG to bring their ICC Futures tournament to COPA90 audiences globally. There is always huge interest in content on COPA90 platforms that features the stars of tomorrow and so they will be delighted to see the next generation of male and female athletes taking to the field to compete across all categories.
“This tournament and partnership are yet another example of RSG’s commitment to growing the game in the US and we are looking forward to continuing to work with them in support of that goal in future.”
This year’s tournament brings together 36 teams from nine countries comprised of the top youth U-14 players in the boys’ division and, for the first time, the top youth U-15 players in the girls’ division from December 11 to 15, 2019 at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL.
On December 11 and 12, the ICC Futures teams will compete in group play. Each team will be placed in a group of four, competing against each team within their group across three matches. Based on standings, teams will either qualify for the top division (Championship), middle division (Trophy), or third division (Bowl). Every boys’ team will move on to a quarterfinal match in their respective division. Due to the smaller pool of teams, the girls’ teams will each compete in a semifinal match in their division. The Championship Division will ultimately decide the boys’ and girls’ 2019 ICC Futures Champion.
Matches will be played with two 25-minute halves and a 10-minute halftime. If matches result in a tie, there will not be an overtime period in the knockout stages. Penalty kicks will determine the winner of the game.
On December 11 and 12, matches will be livestreamed through InternationalChampionsCup.com, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. On December 14 and 15, the Championship Division including the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals for both girls and boys will be televised in the US, Mexico and Central America on ESPN.
All games will be played at the IMG Academy campus which sits on 600 acres in Bradenton, FL. The campus includes more than 20 multi-sport fields, 50 tennis courts, a 5,000-seat state-of-the-art stadium, an 18-hole golf course, two basketball gyms with multiple courts, two 10,000+ square foot weight rooms and more.
