-PRESS RELEASE-

“Sporting success is no guarantee of professional administration”

Partnership between the League of Experience and De Lotto takes sports administration to a higher level
Maarsbergen, 3 September 2009 The League of Experience and De Lotto have this afternoon signed up to a partnership that is intended to improve quality in sports administration. The partners will bring together the pinnacle of industry and the pinnacle of the administrative side of sport. The key words are gathering knowledge and exchanging knowledge.

(Photo, left to right; Frank Bijman, Commercial Director of De Lotto, Rianne Toussaint, Director of the League of Experience, Harrie Linders, General Director of De Lotto)

Rianne Toussaint, Director of the League of Experience: “The League is focused on exchanging knowledge and experience at policy level, i.e. Supervisory Boards, Board Members, Trainers and Boards of clubs, associations and other organisations in sport. We organize, among other things, workshops, seminars and conferences for the absolute upper strata of managers in sport. We have noticed there are similarities between sport and industry. This is why we now concentrate on mutual knowledge gathering, “cross-pollination”, between the two disciplines. We are very happy that De Lotto is about to invest in this goal together with us.”The first achievement of the partnership with De Lotto is a high-level conference taking place on 23 September in Leusden. During this conference, professional sport will serve as a source of inspiration to industry and the focus is on teambuilding. Leading figures like Guus Hiddink, Peter Kenyon (director of Chelsea FC) and Ton Boot but also the likes of Raymond Cloosterman (founder and CEO of Rituals) will provide their no-nonsense contribution to the conference. Participants will hear the answers to questions like: “How can I make my team perform better?”, “How should I handle different egos and characters in my team?” and “How do I turn my team into a goal-oriented success machine?” Harrie Linders, General Director of De Lotto: “De Lotto has been investing in sport for years; De Lotto is the greatest sponsor of Dutch sport. From professional sport to sport at all levels. We see this as our social duty. We have come to the insight that sport can play an even more meaningful role if professionalisation at the administrative level keeps in step with growth on the sporting plane. The League’s objectives concur with our vision in this way. We are seizing this opportunity to take sport to a higher level with both hands, and look forward to a successful partnership!”