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Philipp Grothe, best known as the co-founder and driving force behind the KENTARO agency in the UK, a true pioneer and entrepreneur in the sports business over the past 20+ years. \xa0Great stories from Philipp\u2019s career across UFA, IMG, KENTARO and what he is doing now.\n\xa0\nKey Highlights\nEarly days, coming out of Law School in Hamburg, Germany, lots of side hustles, own Ad agency, a Band, running two clubs, etc\nFirst job, UFA Sports, part of Bertelsmann Group in Germany, second largest Media group in the world at the time\nCompetition with Kirch Media Group in Munich \u2013 small group of young sports marketing pioneers developing industry in Europe\nInteresting time, growth of Private TV networks in Europe, downfall of the Iron Curtain, new Eastern European countries opening-up\nEuropean Football at the height of the \u201cdecentralized\u201d era, different agencies from across Europe/UK chasing after pieces of the cake\nStories on how deals were done both with the clubs and broadcasters, mostly trading with 2ndand 3rd\xa0party rights\nThe power of Football, closely linked to powerful people in politics, creating entire new channels with key matches\nHow the money of the Champions League has skewed the balance of power in the various domestic European leagues\nNext stop, IMG London \u2013 or from Guetersloh to Cleveland \u2013 learning different cultures\nIMG \u2013 key parts at the time, IMG Talent management and TWI Media/production at the time \u2013 company not in great shape at the final days of Mark McCormack\nLooking to build the House of Football \u2013 including building a Super agency \u2013 not everything worked and why\nBeing very German and contradicting Bob Kain at the first meeting in Cleveland\nBundling of rights, the oldest agency trick in the world\nSetting up KENTARO in a hotel in London (Kentaro meaning Lion Mother), good timing, next boom years coming \xa0\nHeavy focus on Football and some Boxing (Sauerland), stay focused on core competence important\nKey to early success, quick decision-making process compared to bigger agencies or institutional money and always hungry for the next deal (always as good as your last deal)\nNot always dealing with the person you thought you were dealing with, some painful lessons\nNew concept of \u201ctwo National teams playing in a third country \u2013 neutral ground\u201d, starting with England vs Argentina in Switzerland.\xa0 Brazil World Tour is born, 120 games later and the stories behind it\nKentaro by numbers, over 500 players under contract, over 150 employees, over E$ 200 mil in revenue at the peak, but also overheads of E$ 20 mil \u2013 feeding the beast\nAsian Football stories, Thai FA and how this leads to helping purchase Manchester City for Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra (former Prime Minister)\nManaging egos, the key skill for anyone running an agency\xa0 & what happened to Kentaro at the end\nMoving back to Germany, this time Berlin, new company Akani \u2013 focused on sports and entertainment, football, celebrities, MENA region, etc\nFinal thoughts on Covid and impact on Football, industry in review over the past 20 years, agency business never stops, similarity to Investment Banking\n\xa0\nAbout\nPhilipp started his career after his law degree at University in Hamburg at Bertelsmann\u2019s Ufa Sports in 1994. He was responsible for the international football division of the company dealing with federations, leagues and clubs during a time, where broadcasting rights became "golden dust\u201c for TV-channels across Europe and the rest of the world.\nIn 2000 Philipp moved to London and became the Managing Director of the football division of IMG, founded by Mark McCormack and the biggest sports rights agency in the world. In 2003 he set up togetherwith his partners his own agency Kentaro, one of the leading marketing companies in the football business in the following years. Philipp relocated in 2017 back to Germany, where he is still active in the business focussing on digital activities and revenue generation for various rights holders in Europe and the Middle East.\n\xa0\nFollo