Company History
In less than five years, Kentaro has established itself as one of Europe’s leading sports rights agencies in the world of football. With headquarters in Switzerland and branch offices in London, Hamburg and Stockholm, the world’s fastest growing player in its field employs approximately 60 people.
Kentaro has been a success story from day one. Having gained invaluable experience in the industry, established sports media experts Philipp Grothe and Philippe Huber decided to join forces and launch Kentaro in September 2003. By the end of that year, Kentaro had already struck deals with several prestigious football clubs. In January 2004, it agreed a long-term deal with Sauerland Event, Europe’s leading boxing stable and promoter, for the marketing of Sauerland’s international TV and sponsorship rights. The core business would remain football, though, and by the end of 2004, several prominent football federations had entrusted Kentaro with their global media rights, with Euro 2004 champions Greece headlining the ever-growing portfolio.
November 2005 then saw a historic innovation take place. England’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Argentina in Geneva marked the beginning of a new era. By staging high-profile friendly matches at neutral venues, Kentaro revolutionised the world of football. There were more glamour matches to come in 2006, which was a special year as Kentaro not only signed a five-year deal with the Swedish Football Association for the marketing of all national teams, leagues and cup competitions, but also staged Brazil’s famous pre-World Cup training camp in Weggis, Switzerland. Over a period of two weeks, fourteen training sessions were held in a newly-built stadium. The 80,000 tickets that were made available were sold out in less than a day. In the same year, Kentaro also launched the hugely popular "Brazil World Tour" as well as the "Argentina World Tour", which has the two South American giants playing high-profile friendlies in top venues all over the world. For instance, a sell-out crowd of 60,000 fans watched Brazil defeat Argentina 3-0 at the grand opening of Arsenal Football Club’s Emirates Stadium in September 2006.
Kentaro’s expertise in the football business remained highly sought after, and by the end of 2006, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Slovakia and Cyprus had made Kentaro their partner of choice for the marketing of their entire UEFA Euro 2008 qualification campaigns.
In November 2007, Kentaro signed a comprehensive four-year deal with the English FA for the distribution of the international media rights for the England national team, the FA Cup and the Community Shield. In the first quarter of 2008, Kentaro struck an exclusive deal with Champions League runners-up Chelsea for the marketing of their friendly matches. One month later, Arsenal awarded Kentaro with a three-year deal for the marketing of the prestigious Emirates Cup. Also in 2008, Kentaro acquired the international TV rights from the federations of Austria, USA, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Over 250 matches in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa will be marketed by the Swiss sports rights agency, including 90 percent of the South American qualifiers.
In February 2009, Kentaro joined forces with Jerome Anderson´s renowned Sports Entertainment and Media Group, one of the most respected players’ management agencies in the world of football. Already a major shareholder in Northern Sky, one of the leading agencies in the Nordic region, Kentaro is looking to further enhance its activity in the player management business.
The expansion continued, and Kentaro launched offices in North America (Chicago) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) during the course of the year. In October 2009, Kentaro wrote history by arranging the first-ever internet-only broadcast of an England World Cup qualifier. Close to half a million British fans watched the Ukraine´s 1-0 victory online. One month later, the Brazil World Tour hit the Middle East, with the Seleçao posting a 1-0 win over England in Qatar.
In January 2010, Kentaro prolonged its agreement with the Swedish Football Associations regarding the licensing of the media rights to all Swedish Football for the years 2011 to 2015. Later that month, Kentaro teamed up with sporteo Int. Sport Management (Switzerland) AG, one of the leading sponsorship service agencies, to generate synergy in the employment of LED-advertising boards.
By the way, the word Kentaro originates in Central Africa and is a tribal expression for lion mother. Is there a need to say more about how Kentaro cares about its clients?
