Over 30 clubs from more than 15 countries will be making an appearance at a live TransferRoom event for the first time by attending the TransferRoom Summit - Deal Day 2022, as the company continues its mission to create strong connections between stakeholders and provide added value and even more opportunities in the market.

For the first time at a live event, clubs from Peru and South Africa will be in attendance, opening up new territories for player imports and exports.

They include Club Sporting Cristal, which have won the Peruvian Primera División in five of the last 10 years, and Orlando Pirates, who finished sixth in South Africa's Premier Soccer League after relegation in 2021-22,

At the Deal Day, decision-makers at clubs will hold a series of fast-paced transfer talks, via 15 one-to-one meetings to get ahead of the competition this summer. The event will bring together months' worth of connections and meetings, and a worldwide selection of key executives, all in a single venue on one day.

As Phil Giles, Director of Football at Premier League club Brentford, says there's no time to waste: "The benefit is being able to speak to lots of people in one place. Instead of travelling for hours for one meeting, you can go bang, bang, bang, and have three clubs met."

Baki Mercimek, Sporting Director of Turkish club Genclerbirligi S.K, attended his first TransferRoom Summit in March in Madrid.

He gave new attendees some insight into what to expect in the Spanish capital: "From Mexico, from Africa, from Japan and other countries in Europe where I've never been.  I travel so much but you can't fit in a lifetime as many connections as you can with TransferRoom.

"It's making my job very easy from Turkey to connect with people, and it's also very real and official."

The TransferRoom Summit - Deal Day debutants also include Sumgayit PFC from Azerbaijan, Norwegian Eliteserien side Rosenborg BK, Beitar Jerusalem from Israel and English Football League club Crewe Alexandra.

In addition, Queretaro FC from Mexico will make the journey, the first time executives from the Liga MX club have attended a TransferRoom event since all clubs from the country gained access to the platform as part of a league-wide deal signed last year.

Since assuming the Liga MX presidency in early 2021, Mikel Arriola has talked of wanting to globalise the league and clubs in the country are making that a reality through the TransferRoom platform and the in-person Summits.

Eduardo Saracho, Director of Football at Club Puebla, one of the first Mexican clubs to join TransferRoom, said: “It’s helping the Mexican clubs to open up. We are a very, very self-centred environment, so I think this kind of platform, these kinds of live events help the clubs to expand their knowledge, their network, and to exchange some of the ways they work. As a league and as a country, it will help a lot.”

New members set for Deal Day

The event, which comes in a month when the Summer Transfer Window opens in more than 60 countries (Follow our Transfer Window Tracker), will also be a first for a new member club, Spanish LaLiga side Getafe CF.

Getafe, who finished 15th in the top flight in 2021-22, joined the platform this month, and have recently appointed Rubén Reyes as their new Sporting Director.

The Deal Day also comes as TransferRoom enters a new dawn in South Africa, with our first members on the platform confirmed in June as Mamelodi Sundowns, treble winners with the MTN8, Premier Soccer League and Nedbank Cup trophies won in 2021-22.

Register for our Deal Day

Photo credit: @ClubSCristal, Twitter