The digital and data-maturity levels of Ligue 1’s top-flight men’s professional football clubs are more varied compared to some of European football’s other elite club leagues, with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) leading the charge, according to N3XT Sports research. By comparison, Premier League and Bundesliga clubs score collectively higher for their scope of digital and data touchpoints, whereas fewer Ligue 1 clubs consolidate their first-party fan-data collection via a web login and single sign-on (SSO).
PSG sets the benchmark for French club-football’s digital transformation efforts, including fan access to a wide array of direct-to-consumer (D2C) functions via a web login and SSO – as well as north of 170 million social media followers, which sits PSG among European football’s most popular clubs via social media, behind Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and Manchester United.
The club’s MyParis membership offering lies at the heart of its fan-data strategy, presenting subscribers access to the PSG website, PSG Official mobile app, ticketing portal, PSG TV streaming service, and the club’s official online store, operated in partnership with Fanatics. Subscribers can also purchase tickets to PSG Féminine fixtures via the user’s SSO, cementing PSG’s women’s product within the club’s broader fan-data strategy.
Second only to the Parisian club for their fan-facing digital transformation efforts, Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais, which both score 80 percent for their digital portfolios, also score 90 percent for their data-collection capability. A feat shared by Saint-Étienne, each of the clubs collect first-party fan data across every fan vertical except for a gaming-fantasy product.
This is pertinent since only a higher percentage of Bundesliga clubs (38.9 percent) collect fan data via a gaming-fantasy product than Ligue 1 clubs (33.3 percent), highlighting an opportunity for French club-football’s digital benchmarks to add mobile-supported predictor games to their portfolios. This could help broaden their D2C capabilities and unlock more in-stadia, in-game fan experiences.
N3XT Sports research is carried out with the sole purpose of highlighting the benchmarks and opportunities for sports properties to digitalize and follows a unique methodology focused on the breadth of each entity’s digital portfolio, their ability to collect first-party fan data, and social media presence.
Each category offers a maximum of ten available points (see graphic below), while the organization’s overall score represents an average of its three category scores converted into percentages. Download our latest industry and market reports to gain more insight into how we assess sports organizations via these three pillars.
DIGITAL ASSESSMENT | DATA TOUCHPOINTS WORKING HARDER FOR LIGUE 1 CLUBS
While there is a greater disparity between the diversity of digital-product portfolios among Italian club-football’s Serie A, with a handful of Italian clubs owning the very basic fan experiences, fewer Ligue 1 clubs score 80 percent or higher for their breadth of digital touchpoints, averaging 60 percent. Nevertheless, Ligue 1 clubs collectively score higher for their data-collection capabilities than their Serie A and LaLiga counterparts.
Averaging 70 percent for their data maturity, Ligue 1 clubs score lower both for the scope of their digital portfolios and data-collection capabilities compared to those in the Premier League and Bundesliga. However, by comparison, the research shows that the fewer data touchpoints owned by Ligue 1 clubs work harder to collect and consolidate first-party fan data than those implemented by English top-flight clubs, which score collectively higher for their digital presence than they do for their data collection.
This is relevant since sports organizations should be aspiring not only to increase their digital maturity by diversifying their D2C product portfolios but also optimizing how they collect fan data. For example, a higher percentage of Ligue 1 clubs collect first-party fan data via ecommerce and a gaming-fantasy product compared to Premier League clubs, whereas more clubs in the Premier League do so via a dedicated mobile app, an OTT-streaming function, and an SSO.
This highlights the diversity of digital transformation efforts across European football’s elite club ecosystem, as well as the opportunities to draw inspiration and learnings across each league’s digital benchmarks. While no club’s digital portfolio will ever be the same, our findings indicate that every club and league will benefit from digital transformation, no matter their digital or data maturity level.
WHAT’S N3XT?
As football’s digital revolution takes steady strides, there remains an evident disparity between the digital and data maturities of Europe’s elite clubs. While this is true of the sports industry at large, there remains a disconnect across European football clubs and their digital transformation efforts. According to our findings, 56.4 percent of the continent’s top-flight clubs own versatile digital inventories, whereas as few as 34.6 percent demonstrate a comparable data-collection capability. As a result, football properties will be reviewing their digital and technological infrastructure in 2025 to highlight the key opportunities and barriers to growth within their existing ecosystems.
“The sports organizations that will thrive in 2025 and beyond will therefore be those that embrace sport’s digital future wholeheartedly,” explains N3XT Sports CEO Mounir Zok. “They will be the ones who see data not as a by-product of their operations but as the lifeblood of their success. They will be the innovators who use technology to forge deeper connections with fans, unlock new revenue streams, and redefine what it means to be a sports brand in the digital age; futureproofing the success of their brand for generations to come.”
Our team at N3XT Sports works tirelessly to develop and implement data and digital transformation strategies across a multitude of sports properties at federation level, competition level, and club level. To find out more about how N3XT Sports can serve your organization, fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch. Our goal is to drive the digitalization of the sports industry and our clients.