African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com), the leading strategic project origination and collaboration platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa through the origination of bankable sport and entertainment district ecosystems, today announced the appointment of Gianni Merlo to its Advisory Board.
Mr Merlo is President of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), the global federation of sports journalists, founded in Paris in 1924 and headquartered in the Olympic capital of Lausanne, Switzerland. AIPS brings together 160+ national sports journalists’ associations representing more than 9,000 accredited sports journalists worldwide, and is the reference body for professional standards, credentialing and advocacy in international sports media.
First elected President of AIPS in 2005 and re-elected for a sixth and final term in April 2026 with 76.85% of the vote at the AIPS Congress in Lausanne, Mr Merlo is widely regarded as the dean of international sports journalism. He is a senior journalist at Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, one of the world’s most respected sports newspapers, and has covered 14 Winter Olympic Games and 13 Summer Olympic Games, together with more than 35 World Championships and European Championships across athletics, skiing and other disciplines.
He also serves as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Press Commission, positioning him at the heart of global decision-making on Olympic media policy, event accreditation frameworks, and the standards that govern how the world’s largest sport events are covered by the international press. His previous roles include the presidency of the European Sports Press Union (UEPS) from 1994 to 1998.
His appointment to the ACG Advisory Board brings to the platform the global credibility and professional legitimacy of the world’s pre-eminent sports media federation. Sport and entertainment districts at the scale ACG is originating must be conceived not only as physical, financial and commercial ecosystems, but as events and experiences that international sport journalism will engage with, credential and cover on the world’s largest stages. Mr Merlo’s appointment ensures that ACG’s district projects are aligned from the outset with the professional standards, accreditation frameworks and media relationships that define how major international sport is reported, and that they benefit from access to the pan-continental journalism network AIPS convenes.
His appointment brings to the ACG Advisory Board unmatched authority in international sports journalism, deep relationships across the global sports media, national press associations and international federations, and a career-long perspective on how major sport events are reported and remembered — capabilities directly relevant to originating and structuring large-scale sport and entertainment district projects across the African continent.
“Gianni Merlo is one of the most respected figures in international sports journalism, and his leadership of AIPS has shaped how the world’s sports media has covered the last two decades of major international events. His presence on our Advisory Board brings to ACG a global media credibility and journalistic network that is genuinely irreplaceable. Sport and entertainment districts do not exist only in stone and steel; they exist in the accounts written and images captured by sports journalists across the world. His presence ensures that ACG originates projects that engage with this international storytelling from the outset,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com), Founder and Executive Chairman of ACG.
The ACG Advisory Board provides strategic guidance as ACG originates and structures large-scale sport and entertainment district projects across the continent, aligning governments, development finance institutions (DFIs), investors, sport bodies and infrastructure partners to support the development of financially sustainable, mixed-use district ecosystems.
Africa’s sport economy is projected to reach $20 billion by 2035, yet the continent continues to lack the integrated district ecosystems required to support large-scale development. ACG addresses this gap by originating bankable sport and entertainment district projects, moving beyond single-venue development models towards mixed-use, revenue-generating and financially sustainable district ecosystems.
Through its collaborative model, ACG convenes governments, PPP authorities and regulators, development finance institutions, private investors, developers, designers and engineers, legal and transaction advisors, operators, sport federations and leagues, event promoters, media and broadcast partners, academic institutions and host communities, creating structured pathways from concept to feasibility, bankability and delivery.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Collaborations Group (ACG).
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About African Collaborations Group (ACG):
African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com) is the leading strategic project origination and collaboration platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa through the origination of bankable sport and entertainment district ecosystems. By convening governments, private-sector partners, development finance institutions, sport and entertainment stakeholders, and academic institutions, ACG creates structured pathways that transform concepts into investable and deliverable district projects across the continent.
