Barcelona, Spain – N3XT Sports is delighted to announce Motasem El Bawab will be joining the executive team as the digital transformation agency’s Chief Information Officer (CIO).
Motasem, who has held an advisory role with N3XT Sports since its inception in 2018, joins the company full-time following a successful tenure as Head of Digital and Technology for Volleyball World, the strategic venture launched by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) in March 2021.
A respected thought-leader in sports data governance and direct-to-consumer (D2C) product development, Motasem has more than 10 years’ experience at leading Olympic international federations. Before joining Volleyball World, Motasem enjoyed three years as the Digital Products Manager for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) where he led their mobile and cloud strategy and implementation.
During his time working with FIVB and Volleyball World, he has overseen the digital strategy behind the federation’s dedicated live and on-demand over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, Volleyball TV, helping grow their audience from one million to 18 million across customer relationship management (CRM), social media, and digital channels. Motasem also led the growth team to increase OTT revenue by 200 percent year-on-year (YoY) since 2019, establishing Volleyball TV as a household name in the OTT vertical.
A former basketball player for Brazil’s national team now based in Switzerland, El Bawab joins N3XT Sports’ executive team as a partner focused on accelerating the agency’s implementation & scaling capabilities across digital & data strategies. He will be leading the development of digital, data, cloud & commercial strategies and their implementation across the agency’s diverse client portfolio, while strengthening its relationships within the Olympic Movement.
Motasem El Bawab says: “Sports organizations are seeking to accelerate their digital adoption as it is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’. In order to remain relevant in a fast-changing world, there is a necessity for rights holders to become data-driven and digitally-native across their entire ecosystems. Collaboration is fundamental for achieving this. Now is the time to explore the opportunity digitalization offers the business of sport; from the possibilities for growing global audiences to generating new revenue streams via commercially driven, digital programs.”
Motasem’s appointment comes at a time of continued growth at N3XT Sports. Across its client roster, the company supports the digitalization and modernization of clubs, leagues, federations, and unions at all levels of the sporting pyramid. This has included recent activations with the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), English football’s players union, as well as the development and implementation of United World Wrestling’s (UWW) first-ever mobile app, video hub, and CRM toolkit.
Mounir Zok, N3XT Sports CEO, says: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Motasem to the N3XT Sports family and we are excited to add his expertise to an already passionate and knowledgeable team. Our core principle is to help prepare the sports industry for a new era of digital adoption and commercialization. His arrival will help us continue to shape the industry and its future. Being an elite athlete, hiring Mota continues our commitment to bringing on board former elite athletes and growing their careers”
Motasem adds: “For the past four years, N3XT Sports has worked tirelessly in supporting the sports industry’s ongoing digital transformation. For as long as I have known the team, I have been impressed with their approach of going above and beyond to deliver value to their clients, by leveraging digital tools and digital strategies to help change the way sports properties operate and how they manage their relationships with consumers and fans.”
ABOUT N3XT Sports
N3XT Sports is an end-to-end digital transformation agency that works with international sporting organizations in football, basketball, and the Olympic Movement, to identify and address their most critical challenges, enabling them to achieve sustainable and competitive advantages within the rapidly changing sports landscape.
N3XT Sports was born in the world’s epicenter of innovation in Silicon Valley, has its operational HQ in Barcelona and its team is spread in different countries in Europe such as France, Italy, England, Spain, and Switzerland as well as in the United States, Morocco and Canada.