Best Club Marketing Campaign – Premier League & Top Tier European Clubs

AFC Bournemouth – Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

A challenger club competing in the Premier League, AFC Bournemouth aligns with challenger brands, focusing on creativity and innovation to deliver maximum commercial impact. Its partnership with Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), Official Training Wear Sleeve Partner, was designed to go beyond traditional sponsorship and create experience-led moments.

The Light Up January campaign became the partnership’s most ambitious activation to date. Centred on a limited-edition glow-in-the-dark walkout top that were launched at sunset to symbolise a shift from winter darkness to Las Vegas-inspired energy, the campaign included a Premier League-first matchday drone show and full digital takeover of Vitality Stadium. LVCVA was positioned as Matchday Presenting Partner at AFC Bournemouth’s matches against Tottenham and Liverpool, with the activation optimised for both broadcast and social.

The results were immediate: 1,600 visitors to AFC Bournemouth’s retail site within five minutes of launch, the tops selling out instantly to mostly first-time buyers of club merchandise. The impact on social was impressive too, with 1.7 million impressions, a reach of 770,000 and 33,000 engagements.

The activation set a new benchmark for experiential partnership activation, demonstrating how football’s emotional and destination storytelling can combine to create a signature cultural moment with global impact.

 

Everton FC – Everton Women Rebranding Of Goodison Park / Season Launch

The 2025/26 season saw a pivotal milestone for Everton Women as they relocated into their new permanent home at Goodison Park.

The football club’s seismic relocation to the larger and more modern Hill Dickinson Stadium, two miles away on Liverpool’s waterfront, created an opportunity for English football’s first purpose-built ground to be retained, reimagined and become the largest dedicated women’s football stadium in England.

A wider rebrand of Goodison therefore presented a rare opportunity to not just refresh the stadium, but provide a distinct visual identity for the women’s team, grow attendances and allow the women’s team to have their own commercial proposition heading into the 2025/26 season launch.

The biggest challenge in launching Everton Women’s move to Goodison Park was to ensure an immediate impact was made, highlighting the shift from men’s to women’s ownership of the stadium and elevating the profile of the women’s team, while still supporting long-term commercial growth.

The subsequent rebranding, and promotion of the stadium in its new role, helped to drive a 253% increase in average match-by-match sales and a 158% increase in season tickets sales compared to the previous season. Average revenues also grew by 222% compared to the previous season.

 

Everton FC – Forever Blue Memberships and Rewards

The Forever Blue Membership and Rewards scheme was launched at a defining moment in Everton’s history, as the Club prepared for a new stadium, a growing global digital audience and increasing competition for fan attention.

It represented a strategic reset of how Everton connects with its supporters – unifying identity, access and loyalty into a single ecosystem.

At its heart is Forever Blue.

A shared identity for all Evertonians. It reflects the emotion of lifelong support – belonging to a community built on authenticity, family, ambition and determination. Forever Blue celebrates what it means to live and breathe Everton, wherever and however fans follow the Club.

Membership was reimagined. Moving away from a transactional model, a tiered structure was introduced to allow fans to choose how they engage. Delivering fairer ticket access, enhanced services and benefits.

Rewards completed the ecosystem by recognising their everyday behaviour. Designed to be inclusive, it rewards attendance, engagement and advocacy, not just spend, through points, experiences and personalised recognition.

Together, Forever Blue has strengthened emotional connection, driven engagement and is delivering meaningful value for both fans and the Club.

 

Fulham FC – 2025/26 Kit Campaign

Fulham FC’s 2025/26 kit launch was delivered as a single integrated club marketing campaign, expressed through three distinct executions for the Home, Away and Third kits.

The campaign combined heritage, nostalgia and ambition to create storytelling that felt unmistakably Fulham, balancing its appeal to different supporter demographics and new audiences.

The home kit celebrated Fulham’s identity as London’s Original Football Club, using bespoke design details inspired by Craven Cottage to resonate with both local fans and international visitors. The away kit tapped into cult 90s nostalgia and away-day loyalty, while the third kit adopted a contemporary, premium positioning designed to appeal to younger, style-conscious supporters and lifestyle audiences.

The campaign delivered Fulham’s strongest kit launch to date, with significant year-on-year percentage uplifts across all three kits during the launch period, as well as significant content engagement metrics.

Momentum was sustained beyond launch, with year-to-date kit sales up 22% versus last year on a like-for-like basis, and the home shirt performing as the club’s best in three seasons.

The work demonstrated how authentic, audience-led storytelling can strengthen brand identity, engage and grow audiences, as well as deliver long-term commercial growth.

 

Juventus FC – How Juventus landed on the moon

In a crowded football landscape, Juventus launched a bold brand strategy that used space as a metaphor for ambition. Over ten months the club built a unified ecosystem blending storytelling, innovation and brand-building while staying true to its identity.

The narrative began with lunar-themed Home and Away kits, expanded through a NASA-inspired capsule collection, a lunar installation at the Juventus Store, and a futuristic seasonal identity across matchday, social and retail touchpoints.

The strategy culminated in March 2025 when, in collaboration with Lunar Outpost, Juventus became the first football club in history to land on the Moon, embedding its icon in a rover at the lunar South Pole. This was the realization of a season-long metaphor, turning ambition into history. The campaign showed how Juventus can transcend sport, influence global culture and prove that creativity, rooted in strategy and cultural intelligence, drives real business outcomes.

 

Paris Saint-Germain and Novotel

With a global fanbase of 550M+ supporters worldwide, Paris Saint-Germain faces a key challenge shared by modern football clubs: how to bring the club experience closer to international fans who may never visit Paris or attend a match at Parc des Princes.

To address this challenge, Paris Saint-Germain and Novotel, part of the global hospitality group Accor, developed an innovative marketing campaign connecting football heritage with hospitality.

At the heart of the initiative is La Suite Novotel by ALL Accor, the world’s first permanent hotel suite inside a football stadium, offering fans an overnight stay overlooking the pitch at Parc des Princes.

To extend the experience beyond Paris, the partnership introduced Novotel Legendary Rooms — a collection of hotel rooms inspired by iconic PSG players including Raí, Javier Pastore, Blaise Matuidi and Nicolas Anelka.

Located from Shanghai to São Paulo, from London to Jakarta and Miami, these rooms transform Novotel hotels into destinations where fans experience the history and culture of Paris Saint-Germain.

The campaign generated 2.5+ billion earned media reach, 1.23 billion social media impressions and over 200 million engagements, transforming a traditional sponsorship into a

 

Manchester City FC – The Stadium Speaks

The Stadium Speaks was Manchester City’s 2025 Black History Month campaign, created to authentically celebrate the Black figures who have helped shape the Club.

Built around a specially commissioned poem by Lemn Sissay OBE, the campaign honoured Manchester City’s journey from Maine Road to today and spotlighted the influential Black figures who have helped define the Club’s history.

The poem was brought to life through a hero film narrated by Sissay and featuring contributors including Stan Horne, Nedum Onuoha, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Shaun Goater, Ruben Dias, Bunny Shaw, Jeremy Doku, Jahmal Williams-Thomas, Bing Findlater, and fans and colleagues from across the Club.

Their collective voices reinforced Manchester City’s long-standing commitment to representation, belonging and unity, showing how it remains proudly connected its origins in one of the UK’s most diverse areas.

The campaign achieved exceptional engagement, significantly increasing online conversation and generating strong regional and national media coverage, with overwhelmingly positive audience sentiment.

The Stadium Speaks reaffirmed Manchester City’s zero-tolerance stance on discrimination and reinforced football’s power to bring people together through shared pride, storytelling and lived experience.

 

Sunderland AFC – ‘Til the End

Sunderland AFC operates within one of the most emotionally charged and competitive environments in sport, where the bond between club, city, and supporters is a lived identity rather than traditional fandom.

The Club’s challenge was to reignite belief and drive commercial growth while remaining authentic in an era of homogenised engagement.

Following a season that swung from leading the Championship in November to enduring a draining run-in, the Club faced widespread burnout across players and fans. Instead of retreating, a small team activated the Club’s core purpose — Relentless Obsession — to create a unifying, season-defining movement.

A bold multi-channel strategy transitioned the Club from the regular season into a new narrative. Social channels underwent a full takeover, supported by citywide and London-based activations, refreshed visual identity, and a new asset library.

Fan participation sat at the heart, with first-person stories, UGC loops, Campaignware submissions, and reactive, embedded storytelling capturing pivotal moments — from timestamped goals to Wembley-week anecdotes.

The results were exceptional: 227m impressions, 11.3m engagements, 383,000 new followers, global media coverage, and over £500,000 in play-off retail sales.

More importantly, the campaign fuelled on-pitch momentum, transforming belief into a movement that carried Sunderland back to the Premier League

Best Club Marketing Campaign – Non-Premier League

Birmingham City FC – Forever Forward: 4-1 to the Chimney Boys

4-1 to the Chimney Boys – 2025 marked a defining moment for Birmingham City FC, combining its 150th anniversary with a return to the Championship after a record-breaking League One season. The Club used this opportunity as a launchpad for long-term transformation, positioning Birmingham City as one of the most compelling stories in football over the next decade.

The season-long campaign celebrated heritage while projecting ambition, concentrated around a stained-glass window and the Club’s future 62,000-seat stadium. The strategy centred on six carefully planned “firework moments” in the first half of the year across football, culture, commerce and community, designed to energise existing supporters, re-engage lapsed fans and attract global audiences.

The campaign delivered outstanding commercial and engagement results. Season tickets sold out at 20,000, generating a first-ever waitlist of 12,000, while home league fixtures regularly Sold Out. Retail performance surged, with home kit sales up 50% year on year. Digitally, the Club exceeded targets by 180 million impressions by December 2025, supporting direct revenue growth through aligned partnerships.

“Forever Forward” campaign was not simply a celebration of 150 years. It was a statement for the future – The ‘Chimney Boys’ are going from strength to strength

 

Bristol City FC – Junior Reds initiative

Bristol City puts fan engagement, particularly the supporters of the future, at the heart of its club strategy.

Through City’s Junior Reds initiative, the club delivers a values and family-first approach to engaging junior supporters, ensuring meaningful connections to the club are formed at a young age.

Driven by the club’s vision to inspire the lives of people in Bristol and beyond, City has enhanced matchday experience though junior activities, retail offerings, ticket offers, food and drink, including free fruit, and mascots Red and Robyn.

Accessibility is a core focus and is demonstrated by dedicated Sensory and Family rooms, providing safe and private spaces to meet the needs of all supporters.

YOU REDS! – City’s Junior Magazine, digital activities, members’ events and first-time fan initiatives create meaningful touchpoints throughout the season and encourage repeat attendance.

The launch of the Future Reds Collective – a forum for junior fans to share ideas and feedback – drives two-way communication and empowers young supporters by giving them a voice.

City’s progressive and collaborative approach has seen record junior attendances, increased season ticket sales and earned Gold status in the EFL’s Family Excellence scheme.

 

Cardiff City FC – Bluebirds Uncaged

Bluebirds Uncaged is a free club account offering a wide range of benefits across the fan journey to get fans closer to the action. It aims to engage with fans at a more interactive level creating growth opportunities for the club and meaningful experiences for the fans. The programme has been a monumental success allowing the to club attract new fans, re-engage with lapsed fans and capture crucial data to create hyper-personalised experiences at scale. The innovative introduction of new channels such as 1-1 WhatsApp for Business messaging has provided the opportunity for interactive communication with fans that has seen engagement rates soar.

Bluebirds Uncaged has so far delivered 65% growth in Fan Account acquisition and a 22% increase in revenue from the new accounts season on season. Rated 4.3 out of 5 stars for customer satisfaction from fans who have labelled it “the biggest positive for Cardiff City Football fan club engagement in a generation”.

 

Leicester City FC – Goodbye To The GOAT

Jamie Vardy’s departure from Leicester City represented a moment of celebration and sadness, coming amid the backdrop of relegation from the Premier League. It was a complex task: honouring a true legend while balancing realism, integrity and the emotional mindset of our supporters. Delivering a farewell worthy of this legacy required a multi-layered, Club-wide approach. Signed from non-league football in 2012, Vardy became the defining figure of the most remarkable era in our history. More than a legend, Vardy became a living embodiment of possibility – someone an entire generation could relate to in a way rarely seen in the modern game.

 

London City Lionesses – We Saw You Look (Everyone watches London City)

Our 2025/26 Nike Third Kit campaign was more than a product launch, we used it as a platform to launch an ‘Everyone Watches London City’ message to the masses, in partnership with our front of shirt sponsor TOGETHXR.

We aimed to demonstrate how a football club can move beyond visibility to claim cultural relevance. By combining bold creative thinking, authentic community representation, and strategic distribution, we transformed a kit launch into a defining brand moment for London City Lionesses.

In doing so, we marked a new chapter for the Club – one where ownership replaces disruption, confidence replaces proof, and attention becomes power.

 

Plymouth Argyle FC – Stand Up, Stand Together – Argyle & M.A.N. Culture

Together with M.A.N. Culture, Plymouth Argyle set out to confront deep-rooted inequalities in football and wider society by addressing the everyday realities faced by women, both at sporting events and in daily life. The ‘Stand Up, Stand Together’ campaign was a direct response to stark local and national realities, including 36,829 reported incidents of domestic abuse in Devon and Cornwall in 2024, alongside the wider epidemic of violence against women and girls, with over 3,000 offences recorded each day in England and Wales.

This was a deliberate partnership to reach more men and open conversations with them, we know the demographic of football fans and it offers a unique opportunity to open up conversations between men, not just at home seeing it online but in the stadium amongst fans that we otherwise would not have had the chance to.

Recognising that domestic abuse and gender-based violence are rooted in cultural attitudes and behaviours, Plymouth Argyle harnessed its unique position in the community to to drive change. Football, with its unrivalled cultural influence and reach, presented a powerful but underutilised platform to disrupt these norms.

 

QPR FC / Continuum Films – We’ll Be There

‘We’ll Be There’ was Queens Park Rangers’ 2025/2026 season ticket launch campaign, designed to consolidate and grow season ticket demand. Rather than relying on aspirational messaging or game results promises, the campaign was built around a clear insight: while football outcomes fluctuate, the one constant at QPR is its supporters.

The campaign placed real fans at the centre of the story. Shot across multiple days, it featured a wide cross-section of supporters, spanning ages, backgrounds, and geography, captured through unscripted interviews about their personal connection to the club. These voices were shaped into a film anchored by a single emotive voiceover, delivered by a real supporter, articulating a shared belief that no matter what the club faces, the fans will always be there.

By prioritising authenticity, emotional honesty, and scale of participation, ‘We’ll Be There’ differentiated itself from conventional football marketing and aligned closely with supporter reality.

The campaign delivered significant commercial impact. QPR recorded its highest Loyalty Window season ticket sales in a decade, ultimately selling out season tickets for the 2025/2026 season and introducing a waiting list for the first time since the club’s Premier League era. The also campaign saw very strong engagement across all digital platforms.

 

Southampton FC – Past Made Present

Southampton FC’s 2025/26 kit launch set out to answer a clear creative and commercial challenge: how do you launch three kits, each inspired by an original shirt from three different decades of the club’s history, under one cohesive, season-long campaign platform?

The result was ‘Past Made Present’, a creative approach that reimagined iconic Southampton FC kits from the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s through a contemporary lens. Each launch combined original photography with ai production techniques to create era-specific worlds, grounded in authentic detail, including typography lifted directly from matchday programmes from the season of each original kit.

Rolled out in carefully phased, integrated campaigns across social, digital, retail, PR, OOH and influencer channels, each kit was given its own cultural moment while contributing to a unified narrative that celebrated the club’s identity and heritage.

The platform delivered strong commercial performance, high engagement and industry recognition, proving that a club’s past can be a powerful driver of modern brand storytelling. By turning three historically inspired kits into a single, connected campaign, Southampton FC demonstrated how heritage, craft and strategic creativity can combine to create a standout season-defining marketing moment.

Best Business Serving Football – Over 100 employees

ADI

ADI has been redefining live football for more than 30 years, delivering large-scale and complex projects across Premier League venues and globally televised fixtures. Known for setting new standards in fan engagement, creative production, and technical innovation, ADI provides a fully integrated end-to-end solution that spans the design of industry-leading stadium LED hardware through to the production of dynamic digital content, immersive light shows, and large-scale ceremonies.

The MT Series LED product exemplifies ADI’s commitment to reliability, sustainability, and high performance, helping future proof stadiums for the next generation of audiences. With four specialist divisions and over 200 in-house experts, ADI delivers everything from individual screens to fully coordinated creative presentations, making the company one of the UK’s most extensive matchday service providers.

In the past year, ADI supported significant digital transformation programmes at Villa Park, Turf Moor, Bramall Lane, and the Emirates Stadium, elevating fan experiences and unlocking valuable commercial opportunities. Meanwhile, ADI’s work at live events with The FA and Baller League UK demonstrates our capability to deliver complete sport presentation solutions that engage younger audiences and enhance matchday atmosphere.

By partnering with ADI, football organisations achieve record-breaking attendances, attract major brand partnerships, and secure future-ready stadium experiences

 

Cognizant Worldwide

Cognizant, one of the world’s leading digital transformation companies, has been The Football Association’s trusted Digital Transformation Partner since 2017, modernising football experiences from grassroots participation up.

With over 250 Cognizant specialists embedded across the organisation, the partnership supports audiences including players, coaches, referees, and fans, aligning with The FA’s Football For All ambition to strengthen inclusion, accessibility, and high quality digital engagement across the football ecosystem. A major priority has been transforming experiences through a digital suite, including Matchday, EnglandFootball.com, and the England Football Learning Hub delivering a mobile first ecosystem underpinned by enhanced data infrastructure and a single customer view.

This has streamlined administration for millions, increased access to football, and delivered more intuitive digital interactions. Innovation continues to drive progress. Cognizant has piloted AI driven development tools, machine learning personalisation, and computer vision based player tracking concepts, enabling

The FA to explore the future of digital football. Partnership impact is clear: more than 2m participants supported; fan accounts rising from 1.4m to 6.1m; 9.5m digital interactions in a year; £84.3m processed via a unified payments platform; 500 administrative hours saved; and 640,000 new learning enrolments.

Modernised systems have unlocked data driven value, strengthening engagement across English football.

 

Deltatre

Football has never been more valued by its fans. Audiences are global and fragmented, expectations are relentless, and every matchday places extraordinary demands on technology and services delivery. In this environment, success is not defined by ideas, but by who can execute them repeatedly, at scale, when the pressure is highest.

Deltatre is doing exactly that.

Deltatre enables football organizations to function as modern digital businesses while protecting what matters most – the live experience and the credibility of competition. Its work spans direct-to-consumer platforms, digital fan experiences, real-time data and storytelling, broadcast graphics, and officiating systems, often simultaneously, and always under scrutiny.

What sets Deltatre apart in the world of football is not just today’s innovations, but the proven ability to deliver across the entire football ecosystem with consistency and trust for decades. Few companies carry responsibility for both how fans consume football and how decisions on the pitch are supported.

Fewer still do so year after year, across competitions, territories, and technologies.

As football continues to grow as a complex global media industry, Deltatre has become one of its quiet constants – the business relied upon to make progress possible without compromising reliability or integrity.

 

Destination Sport 

Destination Sport Group is a global leader in sports travel, delivering a 360 degree service to elite teams, governing bodies, major events, supporters and grassroots organisations. Headquartered in Manchester with a worldwide network of 400+ specialists, we are football’s trusted travel partner, supporting 50+ organisations across travel management, youth tours, fan experiences and hospitality.

Football faces increasing operational demands with expanded competition formats and unprecedented global interest. At Destination Sport Group, we help clubs navigate these demands. In 2025, we delivered end to end travel management at 500+ football fixtures, including UEFA European club competitions and the FIFA Club World Cup.

Our rapid international expansion, driven by new regional hubs in Atlanta, Shanghai and Sydney, has strengthened our ability to serve clients seamlessly across every continent. We’ve supported the delivery of major projects and enabled our partners to unlock new revenue streams, with our fan travel division achieving record inbound demand. Inspiresport, our youth travel division, also delivered a record number of football tours, driven by significant international growth.

Strategic investment in technology, infrastructure and talent has further elevated our major event capability, securing official appointments at two global football events in 2025 and positioning us strongly for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

 

Genius Sports

In the last 12 months, no company has harnessed the power of AI to enhance world football more than Genius Sports. In partnership with the world game’s largest leagues, teams and broadcasters, Genius Sports has delivered world-class solutions across automated officiating, data-driven coaching and immersive fan engagement.

Each of these solutions is powered by GeniusIQ, the next generation sports data and AI platform. As one of the most advanced AI layers in world sport, GeniusIQ has introduced ground-breaking new innovations in 2025 including:

1. Semi-automated offside technology, powered by mesh tracking data and successfully deployed across the Premier League, Belgian Pro League, Liga MX and CONMEBOL.
2. ProView3D coaching tool, providing teams and analysts with 3D renders to review key plays after a match directly through a player’s eyes.
3. LFP Expert providing French football with a data-driven, alternate viewing mode to engage fans as it launched its new direct-to-consumer streaming service.

Genius Sports’ technology has not only helped to solve one of the most complex challenges in world football by reducing offside times, but it is also helping to transform coaching and analytics while powering immersive new fan engagement platforms.

 

KOJO, a PMY company

KOJO, a PMY company, is a global leader in live experience, sports presentation, and event production for football’s most high-profile competitions, venues, and moments. Operating across EMEA as part of the PMY Group, KOJO designs and delivers the creative, technical, and operational frameworks that define how football is experienced in stadiums, on broadcast, and by millions of fans worldwide.

KOJO is a trusted long-term partner to football’s most respected organisations, including The Football Association, UEFA, the English Football League, the Scottish FA, and leading Premier League and European clubs. Its work spans senior men’s and women’s internationals, domestic and European finals, elite club matchdays, and nationally significant celebrations.

KOJO’s impact is built on sustained service rather than one-off spectacle. The team embeds within football ecosystems to deliver world-class experiences repeatedly and reliably, across seasons, competitions, genders, and geographies. This demands deep institutional trust, robust operational systems, and the ability to adapt creative and technical delivery to vastly different contexts—from intimate club fixtures to globally broadcast finals.

By combining innovation with purpose, KOJO has introduced first-of-their-kind stadium activations, real-time fan engagement tools, and broadcast-ready ceremonies, while playing a central role in elevating women’s football presentation to the same standard as men’s

 

Portview Fit Out

Portview specialises in the delivery of complex, high-end interior fit-out projects across sport, hospitality, leisure and mixed-use environments. Working at the intersection of construction, design, technology and operations, we support clients who demand exceptional quality, operational reliability and environments that perform both commercially and experientially. Our collaborative delivery model combines in-house technical expertise with close coordination across designers, consultants, specialist trades and client teams.

Fulham Football Club’s Fulham Pier development represents a new generation of football-led destinations. More than a stadium expansion, it is a year-round riverside development incorporating hospitality, leisure, entertainment, hotel and public realm spaces. Portview was appointed as Main Contractor across multiple Design & Build packages, delivering approximately 10,000 sqm of premium interiors across nine distinct concepts within a live Premier League stadium.

The project required a highly flexible approach, with spaces performing seamlessly on matchdays while transforming into commercially viable destinations for the remainder of the year. Through rigorous planning, technical coordination and early supplier engagement, Portview successfully integrated complex MEP, AV, acoustics and bespoke finishes without compromising programme or quality.

The result is a landmark development that has redefined the role of a football stadium, unlocking new revenue streams, enhancing the fan and visitor experience,

 

The Football Foundation

High-quality grassroots sports facilities are vital. They support health, wellbeing, belonging, transforming lives and strengthening communities. Our mission is simple: to give every community a great place to play.

The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation is a unique charity partnership, bringing together public and private investment to harness the power of football to engage communities and provide grant giving expertise. Through our investment, we deliver facilities that inspire people to play, get healthy and come together.

Guided by our Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs), we deliver where need is greatest and impact is strongest. We don’t invest and walk away; we support every facility at every stage.

As we celebrate 25 years of incredible impact, hundreds of thousands already play on facilities we’ve funded, but there’s more to do. As the game evolves, we’ll deliver the facilities that every player, volunteer, supporter and community can call home.

Best Business Serving Football – Under 100 employees

Captiva Currency Management

Captiva Currency Management is a Foreign Exchange provider, who specialise in the Sports Industry. We are proud to work with some of the world top sports personnel and sports agencies.

Our philosophy is to partner with a select portfolio of high-value Private and Corporate clients, allowing us to be discerning about who we work with. By focusing our efforts, we’re able to deliver meaningful, lasting value to every client relationship. With our founders’ backgrounds in banking and foreign exchange, Captiva was built on a foundation of expertise and trust. Our values center on providing continued support to the Media and Sports industries, as well as other UHNW clients.

 

caytoo

Commercial teams selling sponsorship say the #1 industry challenge is getting meetings with relevant brands at a time when they’re in market.

Part of the challenge is 9/10 organisations struggle to do regular, systematic outreach while we estimate 98% of outreach goes nowhere.

To solve this, caytoo launched a first-of-its-kind sponsorship intelligence platform combining multiple data sets to help users identify which brands are most likely to invest in sponsorship.

The platform provides 10 types of key commercial “buying signals” from over 235,000+ news sources around the world that typically precede new marketing investment. These include market expansion, product launches, senior marketing hires, and funding rounds.

These signals can appear within 35 minutes of original publication and are then combined with brand information, competitor intelligence, decision-maker contact details, sponsorship history, light CRM functionality plus our proprietary Sponsorship Propensity Gauge. This enables a user to assess the relevance of the company and signal to their rights being sold and send the target company a customised, relevant and timely pitch in less than a minute.

The results speak for themselves. Clients are undertaking customised pitching at scale while achieving response rates averaging 30% – and up to 80% in some cases.

 

Icons.com

Icons.com is the world’s preeminent seller of authentic signed football memorabilia. We serve a global customer base comprising lifelong supporters, avid collectors, corporate partners, and even the players themselves — all of whom value authenticity and transparency.

Our primary objective this past year was to strengthen our position as the most trusted business serving football memorabilia and that’s why in November 2025 we launched TripleLock™, a new market-leading authentication system that combines three cutting-edge technologies to guarantee the authenticity of every piece of TripleLocked memorabilia. It was a bold, innovative embodiment of our staunch commitment to total authenticity.

Also in 2025, we established a new base of operations in the United States of America, to better serve our passionate U.S. customers by enabling tariff-free shopping and faster dispatch at a time when political action has caused difficulties for e-commerce.

We were also named FedEx Champion of Business, launched an internet-busting giveaway with Lionel Messi, gained ISO 9001 certification, and began a pledge to reach B Corp certification.

For these reasons and many others, we truly believe our business would be a deserving winner of the Best Business Serving Football Award.

 

Kaizen Ticketing

The Ultimate Football Ticketing Solution

Kaizen Ticketing was founded by David Lynam in 2014 when he saw an opportunity to revolutionise the traditional paper ticket model used by football clubs across the country.

Kaizen’s innovative white label ticketing software has enabled 130+ clubs – including six from the English Football League, to make ticket sales easier, more cost-effective, and more predictable. This has provided operational and financial gains to clubs that need it most, while generating additional income from merchandise, hospitality and other streams.

Today, Kaizen is positively impacting clubs across eight of the 10 top tiers of English football, and has gained 22% market share from non-league clubs at Steps 1-4 with 66/298 clubs currently on board. Last year alone, their clubs collectively sold 3.5 million tickets.

Kaizen has launched innovative new features and functionality including Ticket Resale, Ticket Forwarding, Loyalty Scheme, and AI-driven tools such as match previews – all of which helped clubs break ticketing records and achieve commercial success last year. They also became the inaugural English Schools’ FA ticketing partner.

Kaizen’s impact on the industry has generated widespread media coverage as they evolve their pioneering software and continue to move up the football pyramid.

 

LoveGunn

LoveGunn is an independent strategic creative agency built on a simple belief that Football brands win when fans come first. By blending strategic insight with authentic community narratives, we help football organisations transform identity into measurable impact. In a year where football organisations faced rising commercial pressure, shifting audience behaviours, and increasing demands for measurable returns, our focus was to deliver tangible business impact and move beyond visibility.

Rather than measuring success through scale or vanity metrics, we focused on solving the challenges that keep our clients up at night like true business transformation, revenue generation, and long-term brand value for partners.

 

Newfields Law

Newfields is the UK’s largest specialist immigration law firm outside London and a nationally recognised leader in football immigration. Founded and funded in 2017 by Managing Partner and sport enthusiast Glyn Lloyd, the firm supports professional football clubs, players, coaches, executives and governing bodies with the complex immigration requirements that underpin the modern game.

Operating from four UK offices with a 27-strong team, Newfields is the only firm in the UK with a dedicated sport immigration team. This singular focus allows clubs to move players and staff quickly and compliantly during high-pressure transfer windows, where timing, discretion and certainty are commercially critical.

Newfields built its football service model around how clubs actually operate, sensitive to budget constraints to deliver a truly valuable offering. Since its inception, and notwithstanding its exceptional growth, the firm has not lost a single client.

Unlike any other UK law firm, Newfields is engaging with the football club community by issuing guidance and advice tailored to the football sector in anticipation of the changing Immigration landscape in 2026, preparing support measures bespoke to overseas footballers and their families to minimise the impact of the regulatory changes.

 

Our Club Lotto

At Our Club Lotto, we have built an online fundraising platform established in 2018 with a mission to help small clubs raise funds. Supporters play custom-branded lotteries for their local club, winning prizes while contributing to the club’s financial health. We now serve over 150 clubs – from professional teams in the Scottish Premiership and English Football League down to grassroots sides – giving each a fully managed portal with no setup cost. Our service handles all payments and administration, remitting 90% of lottery proceeds to clubs weekly. Every lottery is branded with the club’s identity and engages supporters as active participants.

In 2025, Torquay United launched its “1899 Club” lotto with us. In just eight months they generated roughly £35,000 in profit, which directly funded major stadium upgrades (new LED floodlights, big-screen replacement, etc.). This underscores the tangible impact our platform delivers.

Our model goes beyond one-off events. It engages fans year-round and provides a steady income stream with minimal club effort. Supporters enjoy the chance to win prizes while knowing nearly all funds benefit their club. We believe this builds long-term sustainability for clubs by making fundraising regular, reliable and community-driven.

 

YesRef

YesRef was founded by Olly Ballinger, an official with over two decades of experience from grassroots through to the higher levels of the game. YesRef is a sports official management platform that enables football clubs, leagues, and organisations, to find, organise, and pay referees through a single platform; replacing phone calls, WhatsApp groups, and cash-in-hand payments with a streamlined digital experience for both clubs and officials.

In 2025, YesRef grew payment volumes by 33%, expanded its referee network by 30% to over 13,500 officials, and increased Organisations by 58% to over 380. The platform now works with over 50% of Premier League clubs, supporting officiating across their men’s, women’s, youth, community and foundation teams, as well as 20% of Football League clubs and a growing number of grassroots clubs and leagues. Football account for 70% of all platform activity, with over £5 million in payments process and more than 150,000 appointments managed to date.

YesRef is becoming the infrastructure football relies on to find, manage, and pay its officials, delivering real operational value where it is needed most.

Women’s Football Business Award

Chelsea FC Women

Chelsea Women FC has combined sustained elite performance with transformational commercial growth, redefining what leadership looks like in women’s sport. Competing at the highest level of the Women’s Super League and UEFA Women’s Champions League, the club retained its domestic title and began 2025/26 with multiple wins.

Off the pitch, Chelsea Women delivered 138% YoY revenue growth, a 581% increase in women’s only sponsorship, and sold over 184,000 tickets generating £2.5m, a 65% revenue uplift. Nine fixtures at Stamford Bridge positioned the club as joint leaders in main stadium utilisation.

Powered by innovation in female health science, global fan engagement, stand-alone commercial strategy and measurable sustainability impact, including 7,639kg CO2e saved through reusable cup initiatives. Chelsea Women have proven that elite performance and commercial confidence can coexist.

This is not just sporting success, it is a blueprint for the future growth, visibility and leadership of women’s football.

 

London City Lionesses

Over the past year, London City has not only grown as a football club but has helped to challenge assumptions about how women’s football can be structured, funded and scaled.

Others have begun to follow, creating similar models of operation. But by demonstrating that independence, innovation and commercial credibility can coexist, we believe we are making a meaningful contribution to the continued growth and evolution of the women’s game.

We managed to gain promotion to the top tier of Women’s football last May, and have already amassed more points than any other promoted club. We have ambitions to continue to grow both on and off the pitch and play our part in driving positive growth across the game we love.

 

M·E·L Research – Fan Choice: Alcohol in the Bowl project for WSL Football

M·E·L Research was commissioned by Women’s Super League Football (WSL Football) to independently evaluate the ‘Fan Choice: Alcohol in the Bowl’ pilot, giving fans the option to drink alcohol in view of the pitch at women’s football matches.

Delivered across the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, across eighteen clubs and over 100 fixtures, the evaluation assessed fan experience, safety, operational impact and commercial outcomes. Using fan surveys, matchday observations and stakeholder feedback, the project generated a robust evidence base for a sensitive policy decision, to support WSL Football to drive growth and maximise the potential of the women’s game, while placing players and its fans at its core.

The evaluation produced clear insights for WSL Football and clubs involved in the pilot on the attitudes of fans, with over seven in ten in favour of the pilot. It also provided practical recommendations on how to best give fans the choice to drink alcohol in their seats, in a way that benefits the matchday experience, through the implementation of alcohol free zones and alternative drinks choices, and how best to communicate the pilot to fans to promote attendance and ensure clear understanding of rules relating to alcohol consumption.

 

MatchFit

MatchFit isn’t just a catchy agency name – it’s a culture; a mindset; a behaviour. It acts as a kitemark for our standards and values. It’s what shapes our people – natively part of football consumer, fans, grassroots and business audiences.

Against a women’s football agenda that’s noisier than ever, we put a premium on the specialist craft of communications to help world-class football brands and rightsholders stand out through top-tier strategic and creative PR storytelling, married with intent to drive demonstrable impact.

Since MatchFit was founded in 2020, we have always placed high importance on women’s football. This past year, we have helped some of the best clients in women’s football land campaigns which truly showcase the history and future of the sport.

From working on The FA’s Biggest Ever Football Session to helping build the future community of women’s football fans through Lionesses EUROs watch parties to supporting Topps on their UEFA Women’s EUROs sticker book, this year we championed all levels of women’s football and its community.

 

Plymouth Argyle FC

Plymouth Argyle Women are well-placed to capitalise on the growth of women’s football. Geographically, the club has an unrivalled footprint across the South West, with limited comparable professional provision, enabling extensive reach across Devon and Cornwall and engagement extending to Bristol. Together, these factors cement Plymouth Argyle Women’s regional leadership and raise their profile on the national stage.

On the pitch, the team is on the cusp of promotion, creating momentum at a critical stage of market growth. The Women’s First Team operates fully within the club’s integrated structure under the ‘One Argyle’ ethos, sharing infrastructure, media, and commercial platforms with the Men’s First Team. The team benefits from professional matchday operations at Home Park (capacity 17,900) and a combined social media audience of 149K on Instagram and 126K on Facebook. Integrated promotion across all channels maximises engagement with local, regional, and national audiences, while operational scale and consistency provide credibility and exposure typically associated with established women’s clubs.

Social media growth targets were 10–20% for Facebook and 15–25% for Instagram, alongside a 20–30% increase in matchday attendance.

The 2025/26 season saw full integration into the main club, with more games at Home Park than ever before.

 

She’s A Baller

SAB is the UK’s largest independent women’s football publisher and creative agency business working with global brands like Mastercard, Three, Asahi, Just Eat, Nike and EA Sports.

Since the inception of its Instagram channel in 2019, SAB has been at the forefront of championing women’s football, combining innovative content creation with impactful community initiatives and safe spaces for fans. Now reaching 26 million monthly viewers, SAB delivers news, insights, and entertainment to an audience of over 390k followers across the USA and Europe.

SAB’s industry leadership is driven by a dedicated team of women’s football experts and ex-professional players, who collaborate with brands, clubs, and rights holders to amplify the women’s game. The agency’s approach is dynamic, working on some of the most ground-breaking women’s sports projects including creating the launch assets for Mastercard’s Style Of Our Own store launch on Regent Street, London last summer and Nike’s inaugural Wicked Games.

SAB isn’t just participating in women’s football rise; it’s actively redefining how the sport is represented, experienced and valued worldwide – our community impact includes supporting underrepresented groups, tackling abuse, and celebrating diverse fandoms.

 

Wrexham AFC

Wrexham AFC is delivering one of the most ambitious transformations in Welsh women’s football. Operating in a historically semi-professional and under-commercialised environment, the Club has embedded women’s football at the heart of its sporting and business strategy, with an ambition to establish the first fully professional women’s team in the Welsh domestic system.

Through an integrated model linking performance, brand growth, commercial partnerships, academy pathways, and dedicated infrastructure, WAFC has introduced professional standards across every layer of the programme. The development of The Rock as a dedicated women’s football home has enabled both performance progression and sustainable revenue opportunities.

On the pitch, results are already reflecting this shift, with the team competing at the top of the Adran Premier and targeting domestic titles and European qualification. Off the pitch, attendances, engagement, and commercial interest continue to grow, supported by global brand leverage.

Growth has been accelerated by a rapidly expanding digital and social media presence, which is being used to convert global attention into attendance, partnerships, and long-term commercial value for the women’s programme.

We have demonstrated that women’s football in Wales can be investable and commercially credible, establishing a benchmark model for the future growth of the women’s game.

 

WSL Football

WSL Football has tripled commercial revenue in its first season running the women’s professional game in England, across three competitions, the Barclays Women’s Super League, Barclays Women’s Super League 2 and Subway League Cup. In addition to revenue, new partners hips including Apple, British Gas, Mercedes and Subway as well as renewals with Barclays, Nike and EA Sports all have players and fans at the heart of them, from Apple hardware to performance teams and boots for players without personal endorsement deals to fan watch-a-longs and more storytelling.

Transformational Impact Award

Brighton & Hove Albion FC – One Goal

2024, marking 100 years since the adoption of the Rights of the Child, BHAFC partnered with UNICEF UK to address a transformational challenge: how to embed children’s rights across a modern football club’s culture, governance and influence. The ambition was not awareness alone, but lasting, systemic change for every child connected to the Club.

The result is OneGoal, a sector-leading Child Rights Action Plan co-created with UNICEF UK. Developed through workshops with Club, Academy and Foundation teams, and shaped directly by children through surveys and academy sessions, OneGoal embeds children’s voices into decision-making at every level. It translates children’s rights into action, setting clear commitments and accountability across football operations.

Within its first year, OneGoal has already delivered structural change: the creation of a Junior Fan Advisory Boards with board-level influence, club-wide child rights training, and long-term investment in player wellbeing.

 

DFL – Bundesliga Platinum Match Concept

The Bundesliga Platinum Match concept represents a groundbreaking transformation in football broadcasting and fan engagement. Developed collaboratively with clubs and media partners, and refined through extensive testing in the previous season, this initiative delivers exclusive access, innovative content formats, and advanced technology to selected high-profile matches.

Platinum Matches feature behind-the-scenes coverage, including live player interviews at bus arrival, authentic locker room access, player POV clips, and on-pitch interviews immediately after the final whistle. Enhanced broadcast elements such as Ref Cam and 3D tracking provide immersive perspectives, while interactive features like Man of the Match voting empower fans to participate directly in the matchday narrative.

Operational excellence is ensured through streamlined workflows and enhanced onsite services for media partners, such as pitchside presentations and live stand-ups from the locker room. The concept’s success is reflected in positive feedback from fans, clubs, sponsors, domestic and international broadcasters, who recognise Platinum Matches as a key differentiator for the Bundesliga.

ESPN US notes, the ability to deliver new features and exclusive access has set a new benchmark for football coverage. By combining tradition with innovation, the Bundesliga Platinum Match concept creates lasting value for all stakeholders and sets new standards for the industry.

 

DFL – Franz Beckenbauer Supercup

The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup 2025 marked a historic moment in German football, serving as both the season opener and the inaugural match under its new name, honouring the legendary Franz Beckenbauer. Hosted in Stuttgart’s sold-out MHP Arena, the event brought together DFB-Pokal winners VfB Stuttgart and Bundesliga champions FC Bayern München, captivating fans and audiences worldwide.

This Platinum Match set new standards for event staging, broadcast innovation, and fan engagement. Advanced technologies such as Ref-Cam and 3D-data tracking provided immersive perspectives, while on-pitch and behind-the-scenes interviews offered authentic insights into the matchday experience.

Thirteen parallel partner activations, including an Innovations Lounge and guided fan tours, maximised commercial value and stakeholder engagement.

The event’s global broadcast in more than 200 countries, sustainable match ball design, and the relaunch of the Bundesliga app demonstrated a holistic approach to modern sports event management. Feedback from fans, media partners, and sponsors was overwhelmingly positive, with many describing the

Supercup as a benchmark for operational excellence and memorable fan experiences.

By blending tradition with innovation and honouring Franz Beckenbauer’s legacy, the 2025 Supercup delivered an outstanding football experience and set a new precedent for future matches—both on and off the pitch.

 

Liverpool FC – The Red Way

In just four years, Liverpool FC has pioneered one of the most ambitious and comprehensive sustainability transformations in global sport through its holistic strategy, The Red Way (TRW). Embedding ESG principles into every aspect of the club’s operations, TRW drives measurable impact while strengthening commercial growth, operational resilience, and community wellbeing.

Since 2021, LFC has reduced carbon emissions by 20% against a 2019–20 baseline, transitioned 96% of energy use to renewables, and raised matchday plastic bottle recycling from 25% to 90%. Sustainability is embedded into operations, from low-carbon Anfield expansion and the sustainable Melwood training centre to water-saving systems, green roofs, and 4.18 hectares of ecological enhancements.

TRW is governed at board level, aligned to all 17 UN SDGs, and validated by ISO 20121, ISO 50001, ISO 45001, and PAS 2060. The Club leverages its platform to unite players, staff, suppliers, partners, and fans around systemic change. Innovations include the Istanbul Carbon Removal Jersey, robotic groundskeeping with Husqvarna, HVO-powered team buses, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, and Academy sustainability education programmes.

By embedding sustainability across operations, culture, and partnerships, LFC delivers measurable environmental, social, and economic impact while inspiring global change, setting a new benchmark for leadership in sport and beyond.

 

Macclesfield FC – FA Cup v Crystal Palace

Macclesfield FC’s FA Cup victory over holders Crystal Palace stands as one of the most extraordinary matches of 2026, combining a historic giant-killing with exceptional off-field delivery by a low-league club operating in completely uncharted territory.

For the first time in its history, Macclesfield FC hosted Premier League opposition, successfully scaling operations to meet enhanced FA, broadcast, safety, and media requirements. A sold-out stadium, live BBC and TNT coverage, and extensive national and international media attention were delivered seamlessly, despite the club having no prior blueprint for an event of this magnitude.

The match carried deep emotional significance following the tragic death of Ethan McLeod. Players, staff, volunteers, and supporters were united by a powerful determination to honour his memory, resulting in a performance defined by belief, unity, and purpose.

Behind the scenes, staff worked significantly increased hours across ticketing, safety, media, operations, catering, and cleaning. Additional policing, traffic management, food and beverage outlets, merchandise, and compliance measures were implemented, alongside weather-related pitch protection following snowfall.

The victory elevated Macclesfield FC onto a global stage, generating hundreds of interviews, increased sponsorship interest, and messages of support from fans worldwide. This fixture not only delivered an unforgettable footballing moment, but also demonstrated the club’s capacity to operate at a level far beyond its traditional scale. It showcased the strength of its organisational structure, the dedication of its staff and volunteers, and the resilience of a football community that continues to rise through unity and belief.

What unfolded that day was more than a cup upset. It was a defining moment in the modern story of Macclesfield FC — a demonstration that ambition, preparation, and collective spirit can bridge even the widest gaps in football. The occasion proved that the club is not only capable of competing with the very best on the pitch, but also of delivering major national events with professionalism, safety, and pride.

For everyone involved, from players to volunteers, supporters to staff, the match will remain a landmark achievement — a day when Macclesfield honoured its past, united its present, and signalled the scale of its future.

Prostate Cancer UK – Prostate United

Prostate United brings together staff and fans from professional and grassroots football to tackle one of the UK’s most prevalent cancer killers—prostate cancer. Across nine campaigns, the initiative has played a vital role in raising awareness, funding life-saving work, and reshaping how the disease is perceived within society.

A key achievement has been challenging outdated narratives. While prostate cancer is often seen as affecting only men—particularly those of Afro-Caribbean heritage—Prostate United has broadened the conversation to reflect its wider impact on families and communities. The campaign highlights the role of fathers, brothers, sons, grandfathers, and friends, reinforcing that this is an issue that affects everyone.

Central to this shift has been the inclusion of both men and women as champions of the cause. By engaging participants across the men’s and women’s game, Prostate United has created a more inclusive, united movement within football.

Through this approach, the campaign continues to drive awareness, foster community, and generate vital funds, helping to save lives while changing perceptions of prostate cancer for future generations.

 

The FA – Enough is Enough Campaign

In 2023, behaviour in the grassroots game reached an all-time low. Abuse and discrimination was spiking, and only 20% believing The FA did enough to tackle poor behaviour.

We responded head on with the Enough is Enough campaign. We launched tougher sanctions and i focused on building confidence in the reporting process, increasing reporting by 7%.

But in 2025, we hit a wall. Despite progress, belief in us remained low. Our challenge was to make our impact visible and transform perception without undermining reporting behaviour.

We created bold, confident OOH creative, publishing 50 real-life incidents and their sanctions in locations where people live, commute, and play. This was supported by nationwide digital content for players, coaches, and parents, highlighting our commitment to tackling discrimination, reinforcing confidence to report, and celebrating the 99% who respect the game.

The campaign reached 4.7M impressions and 1.6M video views, but the real win was shifting belief. Since launch, confidence that The FA does enough to tackle poor behaviour rose from 20% to 41%.

We proved that direct, evidence-based communication can shift stubborn disbelief into growing confidence and we are regaining belief in our mission for a safer, more enjoyable game for all.

 

Utilita Energy – Football Rebooted

Utilita’s Football Rebooted is the UK’s largest environmental campaign in football, focused on preventing boots from going to landfill and reducing carbon emissions. To date, it has kept nearly 200,000 pairs of pre-loved football and astro boots in play, saving almost 3,000 tonnes of CO₂e and enabling thousands of children to take up or return to football post-pandemic.

With more than 800 collection points and support from high-profile ambassadors such as David James MBE, the initiative is a fifth of the way to its goal of saving one million pairs from landfill.

Football Rebooted partners with organisations such as Sokito and MAN v FAT, expanding its reach and environmental impact. The campaign’s accessible, dignified approach allows individuals and families to claim free boots, supporting health, wellbeing, and inclusivity.

Collection points operate nationwide, including in Utilita Energy Hubs, with schools and clubs able to request boots online.

The campaign’s social and environmental benefits are far-reaching, inspiring clubs, schools, and communities, and promising continued expansion to help even more people play the Beautiful Game sustainably.

 

Best Fan Engagement by a Club – Premier League & Championship Clubs

Bristol City FC – Junior Reds initiative

Bristol City puts fan engagement, particularly the supporters of the future, at the heart of its club strategy.

Through City’s Junior Reds initiative, the club delivers a values and family-first approach to engaging junior supporters, ensuring meaningful connections to the club are formed at a young age.

Driven by the club’s vision to inspire the lives of people in Bristol and beyond, City has enhanced matchday experience though junior activities, retail offerings, ticket offers, food and drink, including free fruit, and mascots Red and Robyn.

Accessibility is a core focus and is demonstrated by dedicated Sensory and Family rooms, providing safe and private spaces to meet the needs of all supporters.

YOU REDS! – City’s Junior Magazine, digital activities, members’ events and first-time fan initiatives create meaningful touchpoints throughout the season and encourage repeat attendance.

The launch of the Future Reds Collective – a forum for junior fans to share ideas and feedback – drives two-way communication and empowers young supporters by giving them a voice.

City’s progressive and collaborative approach has seen record junior attendances, increased season ticket sales and earned Gold status in the EFL’s Family Excellence scheme.

 

Leicester City FC – Goodbye To The GOAT

Jamie Vardy’s departure from Leicester City represented a moment of celebration and sadness, coming amid the backdrop of relegation from the Premier League. It was a complex task: honouring a true legend while balancing realism, integrity and the emotional mindset of our supporters. Delivering a farewell worthy of this legacy required a multi-layered, Club-wide approach. Signed from non-league football in 2012, Vardy became the defining figure of the most remarkable era in our history. More than a legend, Vardy became a living embodiment of possibility – someone an entire generation could relate to in a way rarely seen in the modern game.

 

Manchester City FC – The Stadium Speaks

The Stadium Speaks was Manchester City’s 2025 Black History Month campaign, created to authentically celebrate the Black figures who have helped shape the Club.

Built around a specially commissioned poem by Lemn Sissay OBE, the campaign honoured Manchester City’s journey from Maine Road to today and spotlighted the influential Black figures who have helped define the Club’s history.

The poem was brought to life through a hero film narrated by Sissay and featuring contributors including Stan Horne, Nedum Onuoha, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Shaun Goater, Ruben Dias, Bunny Shaw, Jeremy Doku, Jahmal Williams-Thomas, Bing Findlater, and fans and colleagues from across the Club.

Their collective voices reinforced Manchester City’s long-standing commitment to representation, belonging and unity, showing how it remains proudly connected its origins in one of the UK’s most diverse areas.

The campaign achieved exceptional engagement, significantly increasing online conversation and generating strong regional and national media coverage, with overwhelmingly positive audience sentiment.

The Stadium Speaks reaffirmed Manchester City’s zero-tolerance stance on discrimination and reinforced football’s power to bring people together through shared pride, storytelling and lived experience.

 

Millwall FC

At Millwall Football Club, fan engagement isn’t a campaign – it’s a mindset. Our digital and content strategy is built around access, authenticity, and inclusion, giving supporters a genuine seat at the table rather than a filtered view from afar. By prioritising raw, human moments and collaborating directly with our fan community, we’ve created content that resonates deeply, drives conversation, and strengthens the bond between club, players, and supporters.

 

Oxford United FC – United Run Dept

Oxford United believes fan engagement should extend far beyond matchdays. As the only professional Club in Oxfordshire, with a diverse demographic alongside strong sell-out demand, we continually seek innovative ways to connect with existing supporters, attract new audiences, and remain relevant year-round.

Launched in January 2025, United Run Dept. is a pioneering fan engagement initiative that positions Oxford United as a lifestyle, entertainment, and community brand, not just a football club. By harnessing the natural crossover between football and running, the Club created an inclusive, community-led running club that brings fans, staff, and the wider public together through shared experiences, wellbeing, and face-to-face interaction.

In its first year, United Run Dept. delivered 12 monthly events, attracting 765 registered members and consistently exceeding participation targets. Crucially, it has engaged loyal supporters while also welcoming individuals with no prior connection to the Club, many of whom have since attended matches and deepened their relationship with Oxford United.

Endorsed by EFL CEO Trevor Birch and widely praised by participants, United Run Dept. is an innovative, low-cost model of fan engagement that strengthens loyalty, builds community, and redefines how a football club connects with its audience beyond the pitch.

 

Southampton FC – We March On

After one of the toughest seasons in Southampton FC’s history, the club faced a simple but profound question: how do you reconnect with supporters who have lived through disappointment, frustration, and relegation, and ask them to believe again?

“We March On” became the 2025/26 Season Ticket campaign by choosing honesty over hype and empathy over empty optimism. Built in collaboration with fans, the campaign was shaped by real supporter voices, locations and memories, from a script written by a lifelong fan to visuals drawn from hand-made scrapbooks to appearances by club legends and local figures who embodied the shared journey of following Southampton FC.

Rather than promising what the future might bring, the work acknowledged what supporters had already endured, reinforcing the idea that loyalty is built on identity, belonging and collective experience, not just results.

The response was powerful. Season tickets sold out, renewal rates exceeded expectations, and a waiting list was created, while fan sentiment shifted markedly towards positivity and trust.

By placing supporters at the heart of the story and treating them as participants rather than consumers, “We March On” demonstrated how emotional truth and co-creation can rebuild connection and create one of the most impactful fan

 

Sunderland AFC – ‘Til the End

Sunderland AFC entered the final months of the season facing a steep decline — falling from league leaders in November to a run of five consecutive defeats and visible burnout across players, staff, and supporters. In an environment where despair often spirals, the Club chose not to retreat.

Instead, a small team doubled down on its purpose and launched ‘Til the End, a season-defining campaign built to revive belief, restore pride, and re-energise a fanbase and squad.

The solution was an unapologetically bold, multi-channel strategy. A full social takeover reset the Club’s visual identity, amplified by a city-wide transformation encompassing billboards, guerrilla executions, matchday environments, and a refreshed creative toolkit.

Fan-led storytelling sat at its core, with first-person content, UGC loops, and real-time reactive moments capturing the raw emotion of the Play-Off journey. Pivotal moments became cultural motifs and retail products, directly driving commercial impact. Embedded content teams brought supporters into dressing rooms, onto the streets of London, and deep into the post-season narrative.

The results were extraordinary: 227m impressions, 11.3m engagements, 383,000 new followers, widespread global media coverage, and over £500,000 in Play-Off retail sales.

The campaign reshaped momentum, unified the club and city, and culminated in promotion.