The International Judo Federation’s World Tour has arrived to Croatia, where 85 countries will be represented at the Zagreb Grand Prix 2023. European energy company MET Group is one of the sponsors of the event taking place on 18-20 August.
After the International Judo Federation (IJF) and MET Group announced a two-year partnership agreement in February 2023, the IJF World Tour has now arrived to a city where the Swiss-based energy company has one if its many international offices.
“MET has been successfully operating in Croatia since 2013,” says Mario Matković, CEO of MET Croatia. “As sports enthusiasts, our team here has been very much looking forward to the Zagreb Grand Prix. At MET, we see an analogy between our company values and the values of judo. Just as judo athletes do, we want to be successful in what we do. We have clear goals and fight hard to achieve them.”
MET Croatia, focused on the supply of the B2B retail segment, knows very well how to achieve its goals. The company booked an overall 2.67 billion cubic metres (bcm) of regasification capacity at the Krk terminal for a period of seven years. In 2022, it brought 12 cargos with more than 8 TWh of LNG (liquefied natural gas). LNG is good for Croatia and the wider region as it increases supply diversity. In addition, MET Croatia has leased storage capacities in the only underground gas storage in Okoli, which guarantees security of supply.
“As for analogies with judo, we also bring along a lot of respect for our competitors and counterparts. Our goals are set very high, but we are confident, ambitious and tackle these tasks with great courage – and fairplay plays a key role too,” explains Mario Matković.
As an official partner of the IJF World Tour, MET Group has a strong on-site presence at all grand prix, grand slams, World Judo Masters and the world championships. MET, present in 14 countries through subsidiaries, and active in 30 national gas markets, will support the IJF especially in the areas of talent development and youth promotion. These areas are key to the energy company, since its growth story over the past 16 years has been based on finding the right talents, integrating them with the team, giving them responsibility and continuing to grow together.
MET Group’s strategy has been to nurture young talents through a Talent Development Programme, putting young talents into meaningful roles at a very early stage of their career. One of the best examples happens to be Mario Matković, a member of the 2017 Talent Development Programme, who was appointed CEO of MET Croatia in the same year. “The whole MET Croatia team will be cheering for this great sports event this weekend and wishes all athletes every success,” says Mario Matković.
