The Sustainability Report is among the first tranche of partners unveiled by Global Sports Week Paris for its 2021 edition, which is expected to engage 10,000 sports leaders globally next February.

It will be the second year in a row that the platform dedicated to showcasing sustainable leadership in sport will be a media partner for the flagship event, which is held under the high patronage of French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Global Sports Week partners designated as ‘Proud Supporters’ include the International Paralympic Committee, UN Women and World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry. These institutions will help Global Sports Week Paris organisers co-create the event.

Sportswear giant Adidas is now the Founding Partner of the event, which will take place primarily online, with speakers linked live across studio settings in the French capital and five future Olympic host cities – Beijing (Winter, 2022), Tokyo (Summer, 2021), Milan (Winter, 2026), Dakar (Youth, 2026), and Los Angeles (Summer, 2028).

Joining Adidas as “top-tier partners” are the French Ministry of Sport, banking group BPCE and EGG Event. Energy supplier EDF and Vivendi have signed up as Associate Partners.

Talks, debates, pitch contests, exclusive screenings, sports demonstrations, and behind-the-scenes venue tours will form a rich mix of content during the week-long conference (1-5 February).

Content will focus on a couple of key areas: digital transformation, growing business through purpose, social justice, and health.

Aspects that made the 2020 edition of the event such a success, such as the Young Sports Makers and Le Tremplin Invest Finals, are set to return.

The Young Sports Makers, a group of forward-thinking sports leaders under the age of 25, will be on hand to “shape” and “shake” proceedings with probing questions and unique insights. During the 2020 edition of Le Tremplin Invest Finals, start-up finalists managed to raise €3m collectively.

While all the sessions will be on the Arena content channel, delegates will be able to access online networking tools, such as the Village channel (offering workshops and masterclasses), and the GSWMarkeplace (a virtual exhibition with interactive booths).

Lucien Boyer, president and co-founder of Global Sports Week, said there was a “huge appetite” from international sports organisations to “shape a new agenda for a new era” post-Covid-19.

“I have no doubt sport will come roaring back in 2021 and beyond,” he added. “As France looks forward to hosting some of the biggest sports events in this decade, it is appropriate Paris should be in a position to kick off this comeback year.”

Managing director of Global Sports Week, Noemie Claret, agreed that the new format was “testament to our ambition to put reinvention into action”.

“We aim to channel the freshness and diversity of our inaugural event at the Louvre into a whole new kind of experience, mixing a rich variety of formats and world-class international content across the themes of sport, business and society.”

Matthew Campelli, editor of The Sustainability Report, added: “Global Sports Week represents everything that the sports industry should be optimistic about as we navigate through challenging times. Innovation. Sustainability. Youth. Energy. Collaboration. 

“It was an honour for The Sustainability Report to be associated with the inaugural event, and I’m delighted that the partnership will continue into 2021. We’re collectively experiencing a period in time where we need to come together and find solutions to significant issues – GSW is the place to make that happen.”

Find out more about the second edition of Global Sports Week here.