Only two weeks separate us from the traditional SPORTO Conference, the largest gathering in this part of Europe dedicated to sports marketing, sponsorship strategies and activations, digital and other media approaches, as well as technological innovations.
SPORTO 2025, in its 21st edition, will be held in Portorož on Monday and Tuesday, 1 and 2 December 2025, at its well-known location – the Congress Centre Portus of the Hotel Slovenija 5*. Alongside lectures, discussions and presentations on the main stage, participants will also have access to a rich SPORTO marketplace of partner companies, podcasts with interesting guests from the sports world, and of course, the famous SPORTO party – an evening gathering on Monday featuring a well-known musical guest.
Key Speakers
This year’s conference will once again feature several outstanding speakers and guests, with the final lineup being completed these days. Here are just a few.
Coming to Portorož is Colin Jackson, a legend of world athletics, the dominant force in the 110 m hurdles during the 1980s and 1990s, who held the world record for 13 years and remained undefeated at the European Championships for more than a decade. Today, he is a well-known television commentator and the sports director of Wings for Life World Run – a unique running event that raises funds for spinal cord injury research.
Portorož will also welcome Ricardo Fort, founder of Sport by Fort Consulting and former head of global sponsorships at Coca-Cola and Visa; Anaïs Guillemané Mootoosamy, strategic director at the award-winning agency W Conran Design; Sophie Morris, president of the European Sponsorship Association; Maher Labban, executive director of the prestigious Clio Sports marketing awards; Shaun Harvey, adviser to football club Wrexham, a modern-day club development phenomenon; Pablo Dopico from Sportradar; Nick Meacham, CEO of SportsPro; and Sha Rasti, executive director at OMD EMEA, where he leads partnerships for the tech giant Apple in Europe.
There will be no shortage of notable names from the Slovenian sports scene either. Participants can also expect a conversation with Emil Tedeschi, CEO of Atlantic Grupa and basketball player of Cedevita Olimpija, as well as with Alexandar Lefebvre, a Canadian entrepreneur and majority owner of the hockey club Olimpija.
As in previous years, the SPORTO magazine has been prepared as an introduction to the conference, offering plenty of quality content on sponsorships and contemporary trends in sports.
SPORTO Awards 2025
During the conference, part of the programme will traditionally be dedicated to the presentation and awarding of the SPORTO Awards. For sixteen years, these awards have encouraged and recognised the best examples of outstanding work in sports marketing and sponsorships. They represent an excellent opportunity for brands, rights holders and agencies to gain expert recognition in a sector that is constantly evolving. This year, the competition includes six exciting categories
