Former England player Brian Deane amongst line up for this weekend’s FootCoop event.

Deane, who was a Forward for England in the early 1990s and scored the first ever goal in the country’s ‘Premier League,’ will speak at the conference alongside soccer representatives from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia.

Deane’s twenty year playing career included stints with well-known sides such as West Ham United, Leeds United and Sheffield United. The 44 year-old is now a sports coach.

Other keynote speakers will include former Finland coach Martti Kuusela and once time Zimbabwe coach Tom Saintfiet,

Organised by Oulu-based sports development and technology company TopSpot LtD, the conference will culminate in a ‘Friendship City Football Tournament.’ There will be a match between AC Oulu and Norway’s Alta IF and then a tournament which will include these teams as well as others from Sweden and Finland

Conference discussions will include such as topics as Doing business and sports in Cap of the North: What’s stopping us? Let’s get connected across the borders!’ and ‘From a Leader on the Pitch to a Leader in Working Life.’

Mikko Perälä

TopSpot’s Mikko Perälä told 65DN that he had decided to organise the event in order to update ‘the friendship city network’ between Oulu, Rovaniemi, Alta, Tromso and Bodens (in Sweden). His company is a sports agency which attempts find jobs for footballer clients and so it seemed obvious to ‘use football as a bonding force.’ A former amateur footballer himself, Perälä was one of the founders of the Oulu side JS Hercules.

Perälä explained the idea of the conference is to help clubs find business sponsors and to show business people that there are many benefits to sponsoring a club, including important networking opportunities.

More information on the conference, including ticket prices, can be found here.