The landscape around the football industry is changing. Covid-19 has accelerated these changes and caused a rethink of structure as well as financing, operating and business models. It seems like we are always on the cusp of a huge reset. Consequently, the industry is responding to this change by innovating in many different ways.
In 2015, UEFA recognized the need for greater and more targeted support to its National Associations (NAs). In that year, it launched UEFA Grow through strategic development initiatives. Not missing a step, UEFA created in 2018 its own UEFA Innovation Hub to anticipate trends and future-proof both itself and football. With both initiatives now a few years into their development and work with the 55 NAs, we spoke to two corporate intrapreneurs at UEFA.
Diving into the changes within the heart of European football, we sat down with the Manager of the UEFA Innovation Hub, Charles Frémont, and UEFA Grow’s National Associations Strategic Development Manager, Oleksandr Kucheriavyi. to understand their approach to the modernization of football through innovation and digital transformation.
1. What are some of the biggest challenges National Associations (NAs) face to modernize their organization, and how does UEFA support them?
The two main challenges they face relate to strategic development and institutionalizing innovation, but more specifically the combination of the two. The aim is to enable the NAs to leverage new trends, such as digital transformation, to achieve their strategic business and sporting objectives.
In the past two years, we have seen interest in strategic development. Many NAs in Europe are engaged in this topic at the top management level. They are developing their organizations using sound business principles and strategic management frameworks, while also aligning their other internal pillars to such strategies so that they can reach their maximum potential on the football market. We have been able to support them through the development of custom and template tools and methodologies to accelerate their work and reduce the cost or time it takes to achieve these initiatives.
Recently, we started spotting an increased level of interest in the topic of innovation, and it became our responsibility to take the driver’s seat in European football to support our NAs in fully comprehending the value of innovation and the close ties that it needs to have with strategy. Thanks to the work of both UEFA Grow and the UEFA Innovation Hub, we are able to support NAs in tying strategy and innovation together. We are currently designing and launching new tools, frameworks, and methodologies through a structured pathway for NAs. We have also started to organize webinars that aim to inspire NAs so they can assess how they can get involved with new tech trends by shedding light on the innovative use cases from other NAs.
2. What tools, methodologies, and frameworks has UEFA developed to support its National Associations with innovation?
It is important to always remember that each NA is different. Even though they are all football associations, they operate differently. On the other hand, there are numerous similarities between them. We synthesized their common challenges into UEFA’s framework for strategic management with a focus on the commercial and engagement pillars, among others. This framework has been utilized across various NAs to create their own strategic and implementation plans and reporting structures. We are currently designing a new methodology focused specifically on innovation.
Furthermore, UEFA Grow and the UEFA Innovation Hub are developing an innovation framework, with the support from N3XT Sports, to make sure that UEFA has methods, tools, and resources to provide to our own 55 NAs. The aim of this innovation framework is to position innovation at the core of their strategy, regardless of the NA’s size or resources. Importantly, the framework is adaptable, scalable, and contextual.
We aim to have more NAs structure innovation within their own organization through the framework that we are developing. On top of this, we have taken part in the creation of the Football Innovation Platform, launched by UEFA together with the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), the Johan Cruijff ArenA, City Football Group, and Ajax FC. This platform aims to centralize our ecosystem’s efforts when it comes to open innovation and tackle our common innovation challenges with holistic solutions.
“When it comes to innovation, NAs need to keep in mind that it is not only about adapting and implementing new technologies, but about working on the culture as well. Innovation starts with people having the right mindset.”
3. How can National Associations modernize their structure and future-proof their organization?
Before Covid-19, few organizations recognized the long-term risk of depending on traditional business and operating models. In the last two years, this has changed dramatically. Taking into consideration that there was a three percent decline in total sponsorship and commercial revenues in 2020 compared to 2019, most leaders now prioritize business and operating model evolution.
Two key enablers for NA leaders have appeared, namely developing digital and innovation strategies, and changing the internal culture to be experimental and innovative. When it comes to innovation, NAs need to keep in mind that it is not only about adapting and implementing new technologies, but it is also about working on the culture as well. Innovation starts with people having the right mindset. Football organizations need to focus on adopting an innovation culture and identifying new ways of collaborating and new ways of working. With the right culture, it becomes easier to align the digital and innovation strategy with the overall business objectives.
When it comes to data, we have seen how fundamental data is for the football industry, as it impacts every aspect and every department of an organization—be it social media, registration systems, commercial and sponsorship, tactics and analysis, and business operations. Data has a fundamental role in the decision-making process. That is why NAs must adopt a data culture by introducing insights departments or insights functions to enable proper data driven decision making processes across the entire organization.
“Data has a fundamental role in the strategic decision-making process. That is why we see more National Associations adopting a data culture by introducing insights functions to enable proper strategic data driven decision making processes across the entire organization.”