Manchester has been chosen as the host city for the Soccerex European Forum – one the football industry’s biggest annual networking events.

The deal will see the forum take place at Manchester Central for the next four years, from 2010 to 2013.

Each year, the two-day event is expected to attract around 2,000 delegates from around the world, will include seminars by leading industry figures and footballing legends; and will generate between £1.5m and £2.5m economic benefit for the city.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Soccerex will build on the incredibly successful sporting year that Manchester celebrated in 2008. It’s a great opportunity to showcase the city before our hosting of the football aspects of the 2012 Olympics and will do no harm to the UK’s proposed World Cup bid for 2018. I also think it shows with what regard the city is held when it comes to the hosting of major sporting events.”

The decision to host the forum in Manchester was announced this morning by Duncan Revie, the chief executive of Soccerex and Bryan Robson, the former England captain and Soccerex Ambassador.

The Soccerex International Convention was established in 1997 and is the world’s only business to business football convention. It has been hosted in a variety of cities including Los Angeles, London and Dubai and now Manchester will play host to its European arm. For more information, visit: www.soccerex.com