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Meet Loïc Chevalier, whose career in sports sponsorship has been constantly evolving for over ten years. In 2020, he joined WorldSkills France as the Head of Partnerships through Global Sports, and today he is the Head of Sponsorship & Partnership for WorldSkills Lyon 2024.
I joined WorldSkills France on March 9, 2020, and on March 16, the entire country went into lockdown. So, my first week's journey went quite well since barely a week after my onboarding, I had to confine myself at home 😂. But on a more serious note, like the majority of my colleagues, I joined WorldSkills France to be part of the team that would enhance the skills and expertise of this French movement before forming the teams that would have the opportunity to join the Organizing Committee responsible for delivering the WorldSkills Lyon 2024 Global Finals.
During the first two years, I was in charge of the partnership department for WorldSkills France, including team formation and overall partnership development.
During the first two years, I was in charge of the partnership department for WorldSkills France, including team formation and overall partnership development.
After two years, as planned from the beginning, it was legally necessary to establish an Organizing Committee to distinguish between the permanent structure of WorldSkills France and the temporary structure of WorldSkills Lyon 2024, which is responsible for organizing the Global Finals. This operating model is similar to that of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 and the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF). That's how I was entrusted with the role of Head of Sponsorship and Partnership for WorldSkills Lyon 2024 in July 2022.
In 1990, the French Committee of the Olympics of Trades (COFOM), WorldSkills France, was created. This association, governed by the law of July 1, 1901, drives and coordinates the steps of regional selections, organizes the National Finals to form the French Teams of Trades, whose purpose is to represent France in the European competition EuroSkills and the global competition WorldSkills Competition. This competition takes place every two years in one of the member states of the WorldSkills network.
WorldSkills France is a member of the international institution WorldSkills International (www.worldskills.org), to which each member country delegates two representatives. WorldSkills France coordinates a vast network that is highly committed to promoting apprenticeship and vocational training, mobility, and the youth of trades.
Launched in October 2021, the WorldSkills Lyon 2024 Organizing Committee is the temporary entity created and designated to deliver the global competition in 2024, working in coordination with WorldSkills International, which defines the criteria for organization and quality and governs the competition. The WorldSkills Lyon 2024 Organizing Committee also collaborates with WorldSkills France.
From September 10 to 15, 2024, France will host the WorldSkills Competition in Lyon. This unique competition resembles major international sports events and is reserved for young people under 23 years old from the 85 countries of the WorldSkills movement worldwide. They showcase their skills in 62 traditional, future-oriented, service, and artistic creation trades to achieve global excellence and compete for the title of World Champion.
The WorldSkills Lyon 2024 Competition is an unprecedented opportunity to showcase trades and vocational training. Anchored in an economic recovery context, its ambition is to mobilize youth and their skills to promote employability and fulfillment, addressing the challenges of societies worldwide, today and in the future.
More than just a competition, WorldSkills Lyon 2024 is a portfolio of events aimed at bringing together, mobilizing, and engaging all participants, actors, and representatives of vocational training in France and from abroad.
The core of the event is the global skills competition, accompanied by an Opening and Closing Ceremony. The participating competitors are accommodated in the WorldSkills Competitors Village. Other significant events take place before and during the competition, including the WorldSkills General Assembly, excursions and welcome evenings, the One School One Country twinning program, a world conference, a ministers' summit, sponsor and partner evenings, etc.
The WorldSkills Lyon 2024 Competition aims to leave a legacy. An engagement charter consisting of 24 points was initially created after the bid to ensure a natural and tangible legacy of the event: for the host territory and France, for the WorldSkills France association (WSFR), and for the global movement (WSI), which must propose a new model for a viable, sustainable, and appropriately sized global competition. This WorldSkills France 2024 Charter clearly indicates the direction to strengthen the values and relevance of the WorldSkills movement in the economy, education and training, and society, as a primary tool for promotion and excellence, while preserving the unique nature of its competitions. By making the most of the opportunity and platform represented by hosting the WorldSkills Lyon 2024 global competition as the main vehicle for promoting trades within the network, this charter will be synthesized into 4-5 strong axes. Each axis will involve a working group comprising all stakeholders, which will define an action plan centered around a flagship/concrete measure.
Finally, in its very structure, WorldSkills Lyon 2024 encompasses nearly all the elements of a global sports event. The departments that make up our organizing committee are the main functional divisions of a large-scale event: Competition Department, Operations Department, Marketing and Communication Department, Finance and HR Department, Sustainability Department, and my department.
Within the framework of WorldSkills Lyon 2024, my role is to implement all possible actions to obtain support from a wide ecosystem. Like any project of this magnitude, it involves building, animating, and rallying the team that comprises the three departments under my functional direction.
The "Relationship" department is responsible for daily interaction with sponsors or partners (administrative, legal, miscellaneous questions) and also plays a crucial role in coordinating the needs expressed by the "Competition" teams, for which this department must match the Value In Kind (VIK) provided by our sponsors.
The "Activation" department naturally ensures that all the counterparties of these partnership relations are fulfilled, with a clear and strong motto: "inspire our sponsors to go beyond the contractual framework."
The "Business Development" department is tasked with finding sponsors for all 65 trades, and the task is challenging. Each trade represented must have a business development team that will do everything possible to secure support for them.
In addition, like every director of the organizing committee, I maintain a close relationship with my counterpart from the international movement who coordinates this event with us. This counterpart can be Canadian, Australian, German, or from any other country, but in any case, the language of Shakespeare is the one that accompanies us daily.
Lastly, I would like to add that, as with any international event, there are numerous transversal and related subjects that require the involvement or leadership of my department. In this regard, it is my responsibility to take charge or provide effective contributions from my teams.
Thank you for the congratulations, but you know, I don't believe that there is a good or bad situation. (This is a wink to my colleagues.)
Indeed, I have been fortunate to progress and maintain strong connections with sports stakeholders. First, through a former student of my Business School (Business School of Burgundy: BSB), I had the opportunity to do my final-year internship at A.J. Auxerre Football Club and became the club's marketing manager after the internship. For 6 amazing years, I experienced a dream come true as a football enthusiast, working on season ticket campaigns, developing the club's store, managing player relationships, and coordinating UEFA competitions for the club (Champions League, Europa League). I had the privilege of working alongside iconic figures such as Guy Roux and Jean Claude Hamel.
Later on, I had the chance to meet a highly successful entrepreneur, one of the most remarkable achievements in the French sports equipment industry: Malamine Koné, the founder of the AIRNESS brand. The challenge was as vast and exhilarating as it was exciting: to take charge of the sponsorship department and turn the brand into a multi-sport brand that expands internationally. After 5 years, we became the leading French equipment supplier in Ligue 1 with 5 clubs, we were present in Pro A with SLUC Nancy Basket, in Top 14 with CSBJ, and among the world's elite in tennis with players like Nikolay Davydenko (Top 5) and Nadia Petrova (Top 20). Additionally, I managed the sponsorships of five African national football teams (Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, DR Congo).
After 7 incredibly rewarding years, I decided to venture into the event management field by becoming the strategic and commercial director of an event agency. This experience was highly diverse and educational, allowing me to be closely involved with contemporary business topics, working with companies such as ENGIE, the National Association of Chartered Accountants, the Unibail-Rodamco group, and more.
Lastly, prior to my current position, I wanted to explore the world of digital sports marketing. I joined a start-up for nearly 2 years, which supported amateur clubs in their revenue challenges through high-value digital tools.
Each step in my journey has been a valuable learning experience, allowing me to develop expertise in various aspects of the sports industry and stay connected to the evolving landscape of sports marketing and events.
Just as in my experiences at AJA and AIRNESS, the goal is to convince sponsors that we share the same values and DNA. We aim to make them aware that our movement, our "Olympics of Trades," bears real analogies with the themes and concerns of these companies. In this regard, the parallels between sports sponsorship and the sponsorship of WorldSkills Lyon 2024 are undeniable. In fact, many of the current employees who have been or are being recruited have a strong background in the sports industry.
Another similar aspect, when I compare it with my friends from football clubs, ultra-trail races, or the Olympics, is that we are all actors in service of a competition or high-level athletes striving for a medal. This is an essential driving force behind our motivation.
It is difficult to give "the best advice" since the uniqueness of our respective journeys cannot be duplicated. Nevertheless, one thing is certain: you must be willing to invest yourself and accumulate experience. The sports industry remains a small world, and the earlier you are marked by a connection to sports, the more quickly you become part of this international network (and I realize every day that it is indeed an international network) where you quickly find common acquaintances.
I would also add that, like in any professional field, the sports industry is constantly evolving. Staying updated on its developments and prospects is a good way to demonstrate to a recruiter your keen interest in this sector.
Lastly, I'm not sure if there is a single educational path that leads directly to a career in this field. However, as I recruit new talent today, I am delighted to see that sports-related programs and courses are becoming more common and more professional. If this trend continues, it will be a real asset for careers in this sector.
During the current recruitment period, I pay close attention to personalities and skills, and I definitely don't focus on a specific resume that checks off all the desired boxes. We have all been on the "other side of the fence," and from my perspective, being as natural as possible, preparing for the interview without seeing it as a source of stress, allows you to be free and leave the best impression possible. And when you take a step back, you realize that being selected for a position is subject to numerous factors that cannot be fully anticipated. Revealing oneself as naturally as possible allows the candidate to have no regrets, regardless of the outcome.
Showing enthusiasm, demonstrating skills and experience, and being humble (there's no need to know everything) seem to be very solid foundations.
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