3 July

A three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard and just two points separating the leading ten players.

That’s the extraordinarily competitive scenario in The Moodie Davitt Report Travel Retail Euro 2024 Tournament Predictor Competition following Tuesday’s Last 16 matches between Romania and The Netherlands (0-3) and Austria vs Türkiye (1-2), writes our football correspondent Gül Keepa at Leipzig Stadium*.  In fact, as the league table below shows, there are only eight points covering the top 47 players.

With seven matches still to play, a maximum 21 points are still on offer, meaning the competition is as wide open as the Romanian goal was in front of Dutch dual scorer Donyell Malen yesterday.

Long-time leader JCR Consulting Founder & Director John Rimmer wore his West Bromwich Albion rather than Jude Bellingham shooting boots yesterday and as a result simply couldn’t find the net.

His zero points tally allowed Haribo Travel Retail Senior Manager Sales Cyril Goavec and Kenzo Mode Wholesale & Travel Retail Director APAC Lucas Torres to draw level on overall points, both moving ahead of him on the number of precisely corrected scorelines. Each, however, only picked up one point (for selecting The Netherlands to beat Romania but not getting the correct score), keeping them just ahead of a bunched pack.

Our big mover was Avolta Global Supply Chain Master Data Office Head Dani Petkova, who picked up a remarkable four points, correctly predicting the Austria vs Türkiye scoreline and just missing out on a perfect six-pointer by opting for a 2-0 win for The Netherlands over Romania, the 93rd-minute Donyell Malen goal costing her a share of the lead.

John, Cyril and Lucas were not alone in struggling on a remarkably low-scoring day as Türkiye’s upset victory played havoc with most predictions. Even ATÜ Duty Free Strategy & Business Development Director Ali Saglam opted for an Austria win (4-1 Ali, how could you?), underlying the extent of the shock scoreline.

Among our other front-runners, only Cherrie Chan of LVMH-owned beauty brand fresh and George Bliss of Campari picked both victors correctly (though not the precise scorelines) to move them up our league table with a useful two-point tally each.

Get your predictions in now for the quarter-finals on Friday and Saturday:

• Spain v Germany
• Portugal v France
• England v Switzerland
• The Netherlands v Türkiye

The Moodie Davitt Report partners Denizen Destination, Duty Free Global, Go Travel, Haribo, Gebr. Heinemann, Mast-Jägermeister and Qatar Duty Free are generously sponsoring the competition.

The following prize monies will be awarded to the winning entrants’ chosen charities (together with a write-up on each cause):

• 1^st – €1,000
• 2^nd – €500
• 3^rd – €300

Winners will also receive Denizen Destination bracelets of the country of their choice kindly donated by the high-quality brand house.

*The Moodie Davitt Report is the sole travel retail media title reporting on location from Germany. Gül Keepa is joined by experienced football correspondents Claire Fowell, Amos Wynmatch, Mia Stryker, Ace Winger, Myles Offside, Mark Closely, Parker Thebus, Hedda Ball, Constant Diver, Paul Damstring and Conor Flagg.

Look out for their match reports as the tournament continues.

2 July

Airport Retail Enterprises (now owned by SSP) CEO John Chapman and The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt were the big movers in The Moodie Davitt Report Travel Retail Euro 2024 Tournament Predictor Competition following Monday’s Last 16 matches between Portugal and Slovenia (0-0 after extra time, Portugal won 3-0 on penalties) and France vs Belgium (1-0), writes our football correspondent Mia Stryker at Düsseldorf Arena*.

John moved within a Kylian Mbappe strike of our leader, JCR Consulting Founder & Director John Rimmer, thanks to a precise 1-0 scoreline prediction of the France v Belgium match and picked up a further point for choosing Portugal to triumph over Slovenia. His four-point tally was matched by Dermot, who also opted for the correct 1-0 result between France and Belgium, netting a full-three pointer in the process {Note: Dermot’s business partner Martin Moodie is wallowing in 162nd place and has resigned himself instead to predicting the right result in the All Blacks v England rugby international this weekend. 27-16, as you ask}. 

Underlining just how tough the competition is, all the rest of our top ten picked both winners but missed out on the respective scorelines. Just three points cover those top ten; six points our top 18; and a mere eight points our leading 33 participants. 

All, as they say, remains to play for. If you have not done so, get your predictions in now for today’s final Last 16 matches: 

Romania vs The Netherlands
Austria vs Türkiye

Any guesses on what result ATÜ Duty Free Strategy & Business Development Director Ali Saglam will choose as his Türkiye team takes on the the stiff challenge from a talented Austrian team hoping to Vienna Waltz into the quarter-finals?

The Moodie Davitt Report partners Denizen Destination, Duty Free Global, Go Travel, Haribo, Gebr. Heinemann, Mast-Jägermeister and Qatar Duty Free are generously sponsoring the competition.

The following prize monies will be awarded to the winning entrants’ chosen charities (together with a write-up on each cause):

• 1^st – €1,000
• 2^nd – €500
• 3^rd – €300

Winners will also receive Denizen Destination bracelets of the country of their choice kindly donated by the high-quality brand house.

*The Moodie Davitt Report is the sole travel retail media title reporting on location from Germany. Mia Stryker is joined by experienced football correspondents Claire Fowell, Amos Wynmatch, Ace Winger, Myles Offside, Mark Closely, Parker Thebus, Hedda Ball, Constant Diver, Paul Damstring and Conor Flagg.

Look out for their match reports as the tournament continues.

1 July

Hey Jude, don’t feel so bad,
Take a sad team and make them better,
Remember to put it into the net,
Then they can wait for Harry Kane’s header.
– With serious apologies to the Beatles

JCR Consulting Founder & Director John Rimmer has retained his lead in The Moodie Davitt Report Travel Retail Euro 2024 Tournament Predictor Competition after Sunday’s Last 16 matches between England and Slovakia (2-1) and Spain and Georgia (4-1), writes our football correspondent Amos Wynmatch at Arena AufSchalke*.

The former TFWA Managing Director snaffled two points for picking the winner (though not the exact score) in both matches, his lead (like England’s blushes) saved by Jude Bellingham’s 94th-minute wonder goal to take the match to extra time and ultimate victory.

But seven participants, led by Haribo Travel Retail Senior Manager Sales Cyril Goavec and Kenzo Mode Wholesale & Travel Retail Director APAC Lucas Torres (both just one point behind John), remain within Nico Williams striking distance of our leader.

ATÜ Duty Free Strategy & Business Development Director Ali Saglam, whose Türkiye team plays their Last 16 match vs the in-form Austrians on Tuesday, lies alone on 38.

A quality quartet looms dangerously on 37: World Duty Free’s Andy Silver; British American Tobacco’s Chi On Mak; Ontario International’s Elisa Grey and The Shed Distillery’s Max Geoghegan.

Underlining the intensity of our competition, 24 players are within five points of the leader. Can our front-runner stay ahead?

Notable movers include The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt, now on 35 points, just five behind his long-standing colleague at Duty-Free News International and later (a result of his big-budget move to the Premiership) The Moodie Davitt Report.

However, Dermot’s business partner, Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie, is moving with alarming alacrity in the other direction. He is now staring relegation in the face, lying moribund in 159th place on a miserable 16 points.

Get your predictions in now for the remaining Last 16 matches.

Monday
France vs Belgium
Portugal vs Slovenia

Tuesday
Romania vs Netherlands
Austria vs Türkiye

The Moodie Davitt Report partners Denizen Destination, Duty Free Global, Go Travel, Haribo, Gebr. Heinemann, Mast-Jägermeister and Qatar Duty Free are generously sponsoring the competition.

The following prize monies will be awarded to the winning entrants’ chosen charities (together with a write-up on each cause):

• 1^st – €1,000
• 2^nd – €500
• 3^rd – €300

Winners will also receive Denizen Destination bracelets of the country of their choice kindly donated by the high-quality brand house.

*The Moodie Davitt Report is the sole travel retail media title reporting on location from Germany. Amos Wynmatch is joined by experienced football correspondents Claire Fowell, Ace Winger, Myles Offside, Mark Closely, Parker Thebus, Hedda Ball, Mia Stryker, Constant Diver, Paul Damstring and Conor Flagg.

Look out for their match reports as the tournament continues.