President and Co-Founder
A 25-year veteran of the sports and entertainment industry and former professional football (soccer) goalkeeper in Europe and the USA, Nick joined Major League Soccer (‘MLS’) as a founding executive in 1995 and became the first Vice President of Commercial Sponsorship Sales. From 1997 to 2006 he led and served as President and General Manager of the inaugural MLS teams in Tampa and New York, during which he has named the League’s Executive of the Year twice (1999 and 2000). Nick was instrumental in the record-setting $100 million sale of the New York Metro Stars to Red Bull, including the sale of naming rights of the team and stadium, Red Bull Arena.
Nick is an expert in financing stadium developments. He engineered the deals to build two soccer-specific stadiums. The first was for the Red Bulls in America’s largest market, the New York / New Jersey metropolitan area. The second was for the Philadelphia Union, the League’s 16th franchise, which he helped found and turn into one of the League’s must successful start-ups. In 2016, Nick joined the National Lacrosse League as Commissioner, which he has turned into one of the fastest growing sports leagues in the USA.
Technical Director and Co-Founder
René is a Dutch national and a UEFA Pro License holder with extensive experience of working with some of the world’s best players at the highest levels. His early career was in the Netherlands before taking up managerial roles with the Qatari youth team, as well as clubs Al- Ittihad and Al-Sadd. He spent 12 years at Manchester United in which he was attributed with improving the technique of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Nani, and Robin van Persie, amongst many others. He was responsible for bringing juniors such as Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley through the ranks to international recognition.
From 2008 until 2013, he was the first-team coach for Manchester United, during which time he helped Sir Alex Ferguson secure the Premier League title in 2008–09, 2010–11 and 2012–13; the Community Shield in 2008, 2010, 2011, the League Cup in 2008– 09 and 2009–10; the UEFA Champions League in 2007–08 and FIFA Club World Cup in 2008. Following his departure from Manchester United in 2013, René was in charge of Anzhi Makhachkala, Fulham and Maccabi Haifa for short spells before joining the Australian national team, where he is now the assistant manager. He in fluent in English and German, intermediate in French and Spanish and speaks basic Arabic.
CEO
David was a Co-Owner and the General Manager of Atlantic City Football Club in New Jersey from 2020 until December 2021. He led the club to an 8-0-2 record in the 2021 NPSL season. Previously, David was an analyst for Two Circles, where he utilized data science to perform analytics for clients’ business challenges.
David was an Undergraduate Assistant Coach for Princeton University Men’s Varsity Soccer for two years starting in April 2015. He worked as a Sports Business and Coaching Intern at Atlético Nacional S.A. in Medellín, Colombia during 2015. He volunteered as a Statistical Analyst for NWSL professional club Gotham FC in 2016. David was the Assistant Coach and Gold Medalist for the US Men’s Open Team at the 20th World Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem in 2017. In 2018, he interned in Match Analysis and Game Day Operations at the New York Red Bulls.
In 2010, he founded Countywide Concussion Care LLC, which created Miami Dade County’s concussion education and testing program for all public-school athletes. In 2012, he spearheaded Youth Concussion Legislation in Florida. David is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B. in Philosophy with Honours) and Columbia University (M.S. in Sports Management). He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.
Director of Strategy & Business Development
An accomplished and seasoned professional with more than 20 years’ experience in, inter alia, the ownership of major sporting brands, events, stadia and facilities on the African continent. He has also managed international sporting competitions and the ir associated media rights. In 1985, he founded South African Investment Limited (‘SAIL’), South Africa’s leading sports investment company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Luxembourg Exchange. SAIL invested in various high profile sport teams, sports facilities and related opportunities.
Cobus was responsible for, or directly involved in, the redevelopment of several sporting venues. He also conceptualized, founded and managed various sporting competitions, leagues and events. He led the successful bid to the International Rugby Board in 1991 to bring the Rugby World Cup to South Africa in 1995. He managed the international tour and travel rights for South Africa for the Soccer World Cup 1994 (USA) and 1998 (France) and Rugby World Cup in 1999 (Wales and England) and all commercial rights for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, ticketing, and tour and travel.
He has served as a board member of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and Rugby World Cup Host Broadcasting Ltd. He was part of the start-up of SAIL Australia and Sportal Australia and was responsible for New Media in South Africa and Australia. He negotiated a Telstra 25-year contract for online rights to Australian Football League and all FIFA Broadcasting rights in Africa.
Director of Finance & Legal Affairs
William is an experienced, cross-border, corporate deal maker and financier who has been involved in the establishment of several businesses. Since 1995, he has been involved in transactions throughout Southern, East and West Africa. The sectors that he has been most active in include media; financial services; information technology; commercial and industrial solar energy; commercial, retail and industrial real estate; and agriculture.
William was intimately involved in the commercial development of the Internet in South Africa from 1996 to 2002, firstly as a partner at the law firm Jan S de Villers and Son, and thereafter as Business Development Director and Head of E-Media at South Africa’s largest Internet services provider, M-Web, part of the Naspers group of companies (Africa’s largest media company).
He led the successful turn around of Africa’s largest ticketing company, Computicket while he was chairman from 2000 to 2001. William is an admitted attorney, notary and conveyancer of the High Court of South Africa and holds a BA degree from the University of South Africa, a LLB (Cum Laude) from the University of Stellenbosch, B. Comm (Hons) from the University of Cape Town, a Higher Diploma in Taxation from the University of Cape Town, and a Professional Diploma in Financial Regulation from City Colleges in Dublin. He is also a licensed Financial Services Provider.
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