Football trade event organiser Soccerex has cancelled its Doha conference 4-5 December, reportedly claiming effects of the blockade of the country by its neighbours as the reason.
Qatar was the major sponsor of the conference that has previously been held in the region in Lebanon and in April 2018 will be hosted in Shenzen, China.
Soccerex’s sponsorship underpins its conferences, and the Qataris had paid the sponsorship but not a £1.75m fee from Soccerex, according to website www.insideworldfootball.com
The report also claimed Soccerex had removed an initial statement from its website, now leaving no comment at all about the event’s cancellation.
It isn’t the first time Soccerex has pulled an event near to its due date. In November 2013, Soccerex cancelled an event scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, blaming the government for pulling its backing due to civil unrest.
The Rio state government, however, claimed Soccerex pulled out because of a revenue shortfall.
Nearly 3,000 delegates attended the main Soccerex Global Convention took place in Manchester in September 2017.
