WINNER

Motherwell FC

Motherwell FC traditionally sits in the position of being one of Scotland’s “provincial” clubs. A £4m turnover business, it lies in the regional shadow of Celtic and Rangers, based 12 and 15 miles away respectively.

With 4,500 season ticket holders and engaged social media following of 120,000, the club communicates its mission statement – To improve people’s lives – through strong emotional storytelling of its values. In having a bigger purpose other than winning matches, it stands out as a club with an authentic and differentiated identity.

With just three staff members, the club has crafted a content strategy that enjoys some of the highest engagement per head in world football. Through innovations such as access to the dressing room, interviews on the pitch at full-time and the monthly Inside Motherwell documentary series, together with important work in the areas of suicide prevention and child poverty, the club stands out with a strong identity.

Surpassing its engagement and follower targets in 2020, the digital team also won acclaim for their documentary charting the recovery from injury of David Turnbull, showcasing his physical and mental rehabilitation before eventually winning back his move to Celtic for a club-record fee.

 

SILVER

Everton FC

In a challenging period for football – and all industries – Everton brought its fanbase and community together through relevant and engaging content that aligned with the Club’s values of Family, Determination, Authenticity and Ambition.

Digital and Social played a vital part in the delivery of the Blue Family campaign, as Everton engaged with both existing and new audiences to provide health and wellbeing advice and connect fans around the world with their club – and one another.

This included collaborating with footballers, musicians, local authorities and staff across the Club to create content that was relevant, entertaining and informative.

Digital and Social played a significant part in raising thousands of pounds for the Blue Family campaign, which is supporting the most vulnerable people in our community during the pandemic.

Additionally, the teams had to react quickly to the major signing of Colombian superstar James Rodriguez from Real Madrid, developing a plan to capitalise on the global splash it would inevitably make, and turn it into an opportunity for international growth and engagement, particularly in the Club’s target markets of North and South America. This included the launch of a new Spanish-language Club website and Spanish-language social media accounts.

BRONZE

Leicester City FC

We launched our official TikTok channel in November 2019, and it has since gone on to become one of the most engaged social media accounts in world sport.

It has seen us interact with a new audience; a much younger generation of supporters that consume fast-paced, and most importantly, humorous content.

Ensuring that fan engagement is at the heart of our strategy, our approach on TikTok is much more contemporary than our other channels, and with it has produced viral content, and even created platform trends.

Our audience is not restricted to Leicester fans, and we regularly reply to opposition supporters, who we would previously never engage with, allowing us to further expand our reach.

A key age range of TikTok users is the mid-to-late teens, and this has helped us to connect with younger supporters all over the world who may not yet have chosen a club to support, ultimately providing us with the potential of gaining fans for life.

In late 2020, we analysed our current digital strategy, and have since developed a plan for the next three years that will focus on engaging with a younger demographic, with TikTok now at the very centre of that strategy.

WINNER

Tottenham Hotspur FC

In a summer of exciting announcements during Jose Mourinho’s first pre-season transfer window in charge, the Club’s digital team overhauled it’s existing strategy to execute a range of innovative transfer campaigns across our social media channels. We were lead by fan sentiment to take ownership of some contentious topics of discussion and push the boundaries in terms of access to shape our style and tone of voice.

A tongue-in-cheek approach for the signings of Matt Doherty, Carlos Vinicius and Joe Rodon was followed by our cross-platform #BaleIsBack campaign to document the much anticipated return of club legend, Gareth Bale.

 

SILVER

Everton FC

Everton’s signing of James Rodriguez in September 2020 – the 8th biggest social media sports star on earth – presented the Club with an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate its growth across the Americas and worldwide – but it needed to act quickly and decisively across three continents.

Due to the pandemic, the Club led with digital and social, supported by inspiring on-the- ground, headline-grabbing visual activations in New York, Miami, Bogota and Rodriguez’s new home town of Liverpool, linking the territories and telling the story of the Club’s ambition and wider international strategy.

The activity went viral on social media, galvanising Evertonians – old and new – and the wider footballing community to participate in meaningful, memorable and authentic engagement with the Club and each other, illustrating Everton’s identity as The People’s Club. New Spanish-language social media channels were launched and have seen significant growth built on the effective merging of local nuances and Everton values.

The announcement and subsequent ‘blue wave’ on the ground and social media activity resonated on an international scale, surpassing all targets. Just 48 hours after the announcement, the coordinated physical, digital and social media activity had reached more than 500 million people globally.

 

BRONZE

Arsenal FC

It’s been a turbulent time for everyone in the midst of a pandemic and football isn’t immune to this. We’ve been fortunate to play matches, but we’ve been missing the essential ingredient that makes our game so special: the fans.

So when our club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was poised to sign a new three-year contract, we wanted to mark the moment with our fans in a special way.
On 15 September 2020, Auba personally shared the news of his new contract on Arsenal’s social media channels from Emirates Stadium to a live audience of more than quarter of a million fans across Instagram Live, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, the Arsenal app and Arsenal.com.

It was crucial to Auba that his vibrant personality and his social media habits were captured authentically. Thanks to his commitment to making this happen, the hard work and creativity from some brilliant people and the support of Instagram, we created a memorable moment of excitement for our fans that we could all share together.

In total, more than 3.2 million people have watched the announcement across live and on-demand platforms.

WINNER

English Football League – iFollow

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, overnight the EFL became a full-scale streaming provider with iFollow proving a critical lifeline to both Clubs and Supporters.

Since the start of the pandemic the EFL has streamed over 850 matches, over double the amount it would usually stream, to over 3.5million people. In a short space of time the League has had to upscale its operation, with responsibility for infrastructure, ticketing and marketing resource – in turn protecting Clubs’ Season Ticket revenue, commercial deals and generating much-needed income at financially precarious time.

Without iFollow (or Club equivalent service) there simply would have been no other way to watch every EFL match and supporters would have been left with no access to their Club.

SILVER

Urban Zoo – Gamechanger

Urban Zoo’s unique Gamechanger platform for professional sports clubs is revolutionising the performance of clubs’ digital assets, optimising fan engagement and commercialisation by dramatically increasing user numbers and fans’ discretionary spend Clients include Everton, Stoke City, Fulham, Celtic, Wigan Athletic, Aston Villa, Sheffield United, Spurs, Middlesbrough and AFC Fylde, with Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers currently in the build phase Gamechanger encompasses a website, native app and e-commerce platform, with continuous investment in new features and functionality Clients view us as a technology partner, rather than a supplier We’re footy fans who happen to be very, very good at technology Gamechanger’s success is, in part, because it helps resolve the following challenges: • It’s easy to use and time efficient for client content teams • It understands fan behaviour and enables activity tracking • It’s robust and secure, with infinite scale-up on tap to cope with surges in demand • Innovative and constantly evolving • Commercial certainty via one fixed monthly licence fee • Vastly improved fan user experience Such is the impact of Gamechanger in areas such as user experience, personalisation, design, content presentation and much more, that our clients have found it utterly transformative Across all key metrics

BRONZE

LiveScore

In under six months, LiveScore successfully revolutionised their popular app by launching and integrating a free-to-air football live streaming service that is already forcing the sports industry to sit up and take notice.

Capitalising on its standing as one of the world’s leading real-time sports updates and results providers, LiveScore identified a gap in the market to provide accessible, safe, trusted, reliable and legal live streaming for football fans in the UK and Ireland.

Within two months of launching in June 2020, over 600,000 unique users (60% of LiveScore’s UK and Ireland mobile app users) visited the LiveScore app to view a match, with individual audiences peaking at 147,000 unique viewers. Six months on, 1.4m unique users have watched a match.

LiveScore is streaming over 1,000 matches throughout the 2020-21 season, underpinned by 306 matches from Italy’s Serie A campaign. For the first time, LiveScore is now carrying live streams from the English Premier League, after acquiring rights to simulcast 31 Saturday 3pm kick off fixtures exclusively for LiveScore app users in Nigeria.

The next step of development will see LiveScore acquire new rights and deliver content globally, unlocking their global active monthly audience of 56 million users.

WINNER

KSS

KSS is recognised as a leading professional service in football and focus on stadia and elite training centres.
They work with clients to create venues of high-quality and intense sporting and spectator experiences. They assist clients in growing their business, driving increased revenue and developing their brand.

KSS provide a full range of sports design consultancy services in master planning, architecture, interior design, graphic design, branding and wayfinding.

KSS’ sports team leaders have over 30 years of experience in stadium and training centre design and are proud to have worked globally in this field.

Key highlights are Coimbra Stadium in Portugal, Stade Océane in France, Sammy Ofer Stadium in Israel, The Amex Community Stadium for Brighton & Hove Albion FC, Anfield Stadium and new Training Facilities for Liverpool FC, Selhurst Park redevelopment for Crystal Palace FC and a new Training Ground for Leicester City FC.

SILVER

Onside Law Limited

Onside Law is a niche law firm specialising in sport and football in particular. It continues to advise on the biggest deals in football acting for many of the game’s iconic names. Highlights during the last 12 months include advising new client, Jude Bellingham, on his move to Borussia Dortmund; and dealing with cutting edge legal issues resulting from Covid-19, including advising Hearts on its challenge to its enforced relegation following the early curtailment of the Scottish Premiership.

 

BRONZE

Mackrell Solicitors

With a focus on building close, lasting relationships with players, Mackrell.Solicitors sets itself apart from many other law firms by providing a personable, holistic service that considers every aspect of a player’s lives on and off the pitch.

Having grown from just a concept four years ago, the firm now acts for more than 50 athletes and has built significant partnerships with a number of organisations, including the University Campus of Football Business.

The Sports & Entertainment Team at Mackrell.Solicitors continues to go from strength to strength, growing to meet the demand for its services.
With connections in more than 60 countries around the world, as the founding member of elite legal network Mackrell International, its sports clients can get immediate access to advice anywhere in the world.

Constantly looking at new ways to support its clients, the firm has built a network of incredible contacts, including top-level accountants and financial advisers that ensure every aspect of their client’s lives is carefully managed.

Few firms can offer such a carefully tailored service to sports clients, which is a testament to the hard work and focus on clients’ needs.

WINNER

Albion in the Community

Albion in the Community is one of the leading football charities in the UK, with a reputation for delivering pioneering, innovative and impactful programmes across the south coast.

Working in some of the most economically and health deprived coastal communities in the UK, the charity makes a genuine and lasting difference to the lives of tens of thousands of local people.

A recent independent social and economic study found Albion in the Community creates an annual social impact valued in excess of £28million, all from an income of just £3.2million. Put simply, for every £1 of income, the charity creates £8.84 of positive impact for local people.

It is a record which everyone connected with Brighton & Hove Albion is incredibly proud – including the club’s supporters. In the most-recent Premier League Fan Matchday Survey, the charity’s work again led the way in how fans of Premier League clubs viewed their community schemes.

The survey found 95% of Albion supporters felt the club made a significant contribution to the local community (compared to a Premier League average of 77%), with 94% feeling that the work was an important part of the culture and philosophy of Brighton & Hove Albion.

 

SILVER

Saints Foundation

Saints Foundation, the charity of Southampton Football Club, aims to inspire individuals from Southampton and the surrounding areas in their journey to fulfilling their potential. Using insights, data, and evidence from multiple stakeholders across our community, we ensure that our support focusses on those who need us most. Our workforce of over 100 members of staff work hard to deliver consistent support delivering 110,474 hours in 2018/19 and despite restrictions 45,668 hours throughout 2019/20 alongside the delivery of food and prescriptions.
The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing needs within our communities, as well as presenting a whole new set of additional needs. Our delivery over the past season has adapted to ensure that we can support with as many of those needs as possible.

BRONZE

Newcastle United Foundation

Newcastle United Foundation was established in 2008 as the official charity arm of Newcastle United. For 13 years, our Foundation has been harnessing the passion for football in the North East to motivate and inspire people to be more active, learn new skills, be more employable and to reach their potential.

Based at St. James’ Park, our award-winning charity has grown to accommodate more than 100 full-time colleagues and 63 sessional staff. We deliver 43 individual community, employability, educational and health and wellbeing projects from Berwick to County Durham – supporting more than 66,000 people each year.
Be A Game Changer is our mental health awareness campaign, encouraging men to talk more openly about how they are really feeling. We use matchdays, men’s health workshops and physical and mental wellness sessions to reach men who rarely engage with traditional wellbeing campaigns, but who we know are inspired by the United crest.

Providing the support, guidance and tools we all need for mental wellness, we aim to reduce the stigma around starting a conversation about mental health. The campaign shares the poignant stories of the one in four of us who will experience a mental health issue in our lifetime.

WINNER

Manchester United FC & Cadbury

Cadbury and Manchester United launched their partnership in a unique way: by shining a spotlight on loneliness among the elderly. It’s an issue that affects 1.4 million people in the UK alone, with 225,000 often going a week without speaking to anyone. The campaign launch included a visit to Old Trafford by a group of elderly United fans who met the players on the pitch as match day

Guests of Honour — creating uplifting images which were beamed around the world. The campaign became even more resonant when the pandemic struck shortly after the partnership launched, with so many elderly people caught in social isolation. Using the powerful platforms of two of the UK’s best-known and loved brands, Cadbury and Manchester United issued a call to action for fans to support the elderly in their communities, whilst raising awareness of their own new partnership.

 

SILVER

Chelsea FC & Three – Support Someone Else

By appearing to challenge fan loyalty, this campaign was driven by an attention-grabbing moment; however, the true meaning behind the “Support Someone Else” initiative was soon clear. After an incredibly challenging year, Chelsea and Three were encouraging everyone to reach out to friends, family, loved ones (and even rivals) throughout the festive period. Encouraging people to pick up the phone, send a text or just check-in with those around you because you never know how important that could be to someone.

The campaign ultimately raised awareness of Three’s sponsorship through utilising Chelsea’s global reach and having access to household names such as Frank Lampard and Emma Hayes. The execution was bold and unexpected but the message important and timely. The campaign had a huge impact on all football fans, as well as relevance to a far wider audience who were potentially struggling with mental health or loneliness due to Covid 19 restrictions.

The campaign was fantastic for brand engagement, with Lampard’s video content delivering a reach of 8,065,069 and 1,842,082 views across Facebook and Instagram, while Twitter video views were 143% above the partner average for CFC. Meanwhile 33 pieces of coverage were generated, with 100% positive sentiment for Three.

 

BRONZE

Manchester City & Xylem – The End of Football

The end of football The most popular sport in the world finished Sounds terrifying doesn’t it?

While it may seem unimaginable, the threat may be closer than we think. As a result of climate change, the UK Environmental Protection Agency has issued multiple warnings of severe water shortages across the UK by 2045 To drive public awareness and encourage bold action, global water technology provider Xylem and Man City developed the ‘End of Football’ campaign that leverages the emotional match day experience to inspire viewers to take action on water issues.

The campaign comprises the main film and the ‘Water Hero Playbook’. The film takes viewers on an emotional journey following the life of a young City fan as she grows up watching football in the present day, before depicting a future in which the game is put on an indefinite pause due to water shortages. The ‘Playbook’ provides actionable tips on how fans can reduce their water footprint

The results are exceptional – within three weeks we reached 473 2 million (nearly 5x our stretch target), had 165 PR mentions (3x our target), 10 8 million views of the film (organic YouTube views 8x club benchmark), and engagement rates

WINNER

Ball Street Network

Ball Street is a Football Fan Engagement agency. We work with our clients to help them organically engage with football fans via social media, in a way which builds long term brand affinity.
We work with our clients to move them from the ‘ad space’ into the ‘culture space’.

Our role in the campaign was to activate the sponsorship on social. Paddy Power had partnered with a handful of traditional media outlets to promote the campaign, however in order to fully embed this in fan culture we knew we needed to play where fan attention is. Ball Street Network’s heritage in building and growing online football communities meant that we were perfectly placed to send the campaign viral.

 

SILVER

Eastleigh FC

Rebranding a football club is hard, it is an emotionally charged subject, in which fans and the footballing community will undoubtedly take to social media and have their say on any rebrand. Many clubs have been through the process, and many clubs have got it wrong and felt the fan’s backlash and disapproval of the new brand.

In 2020, Eastleigh Football Club, in collaboration with Christopher Payne, rebranded their entire club by launching a striking new logo design, a custom typeface that is unique to the club, and a modern brand system that is scalable, practical and highly relevant to the club’s nickname and local history.

Adding to this, the club launched this new brand in a way like no other, producing a short film – Chapters – that told the story of the club through its various identities and key moments in history. The new brand made an emotional connection with the fans, with many taking to social media to declaring their love and approval of the new look and feel, with some stating that it is one of the best football club rebrands in recent years.

Chapters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiM2lx84HW8&feature=youtu.be

BRONZE

Budweiser – FootballCo

Budweiser partnered with FootballCo. to develop and distribute their first ever original content series for the UK; ‘Side Hustles’.

Today’s football fans regularly get to see players doing what they are famous for but have limited exposure to their lives off the pitch. ‘Side Hustles’ gives rarely-seen access to players lives, shining a light on three football stars and the businesses they have created in tandem to leading successful footballing careers.

Tyrone Mings, Wilfried Zaha, and Eni Aluko have all reached the pinnacle of their respective footballing careers, but all three are also showing that there is much more to them than just their chosen profession.

Through telling their unique stories we were able to ensure the Budweiser’s brand ethos and messaging was at the forefront of the content - showing that being a ‘king’ isn’t just about making it as a pro footballer, it’s about having the self-belief and ambition to forge a unique path. The films, designed to inspire our audience that they too can follow their dreams.

WINNER

Leyton Orient FC & Harry Kane

Front of Shirt Deal with the England Captain Harry Kane.
This unique and global partnership deal with Harry was a life line for the Club, just when income streams dried up, shirts started flying off the shelves. 3 times as many shirts have now been sold compared to last season and they have been dispatched to over 80 different countries across the globe. What makes the Club and Harry proud…the opportunity to celebrate, support and raise the profile of three amazing Charities:
– Thankyou Frontline Heroes – Bart’s Charity
– Haven House Children’s Hospice
– MIND
Harry and the Club through this partnership have been able to engage with the Charities events, fundraising events, amplify their messages and put smiles on peoples faces. Gifts have been given to the children over Christmas at Haven House and Whips Cross Hospital, auction items have been donated, and video messages from Harry and the Club have been sent to patients across the three charities. With lots more planned between now and the end of the season.

 

SILVER

Norwich City FC & War Paint for Men

In 2020, Norwich City partnered with male makeup brand War Paint for Men to deliver an incredibly important in-depth content series we’ve titled ‘Challenging Stereotypes’.

Episode 1 focused on recognising and tackling the concept of ‘toxic masculinity’, challenging the stigmas and offering hope to those struggling, all in the company of global star Stephen Fry. Stephen joined Darren Eadie and Danny Gray for the honest in-depth chat about all things mental health where he spoke candidly about his experiences, current attitudes in society to mental health and also how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the thoughts and emotions of people around the world.

Stephen Fry: “But brave is saying I have weaknesses, I have fears, I have a secret…That’s courage.”

Episode 2 focused on homophobia within football, in the company of the inspiring Amal Fashanu. Amal is the niece of Justin Fashanu, the first openly gay footballer who was driven to suicide by the backlash he received for his sexuality. Amal spoke emotionally with Darren and Danny about her mission to help footballers struggling to accept their sexuality, and her work in founding the Justin Fashanu Foundation. Episode 2 will be released in February to coincide with LGBT history month.

BRONZE

Liverpool FC & Standard Chartered – Project Stand Red

Standard Chartered united the past and present to inspire and educate the next generation of Liverpool FC fans by showcasing LFC’s most successful manager, Bob Paisley, in what would have been his 100th Birthday year (2019/20 Season).

The beauty of technology is to provide human connections. Through the use of smart technology, both voice technology and CGI, we were able to allow Bob Paisley to once again walk on the Anfield pitch, tell unheard stories alongside Ian Rush and interact with today’s players and Manager, Jürgen Klopp.
Working extremely closely the Paisley Family and LFC, ‘Project Stand Red’ became a campaign that preserves a tremendous legacy that will continue to inspire the next generation of football and demonstrate the Bank’s commitment to bringing global fans closer to the Club they love using innovation and technology.

Project Stand Red is a campaign that built human connections, inspired the next generation of football fans and demonstrated the Bank’s commitment to bringing fans in all corners of the globe closer to the Club they love – using the same type of innovative technology that made the brand a fintech leader.

 

<a href=”https://footballbusinessawards.com/finalist/best-use-of-technology-in-a-football-club/“>Read about the other shortlisted entrants</a>

WINNER

Liverpool FC/Monterosa

Liverpool FC has adopted a real-time engagement platform to power the interactive experiences across their digital properties as part of the strategy to identify and communicate directly with more of the club’s global following.

Deployed using the platform, The new Match Centre, integrated into the club’s existing website and app frameworks, offers fans a unique match experience, presenting live match commentary, media content, social coverage and interactive elements (predictions, polls, trivia, voting and the new “Klopp o’meter”) all supported by a live real-time video feed from the club’s studio. As a result, the new Match Centre becomes the only destination the fans need to embrace the club on matchday.

Topline results include:

• Matchday visits grew by more than 10x (from 50k previously to over 650k on the new Match Centre)
• 97% player retention rate throughout the live quiz shows, with an average session length of over 57 minutes
• 40,000+ first-party fan data captured throughout the Advent Calendar campaign
• 250,000 first-party fan data captured throughout new Match Centre experiences

 

SILVER

Leicester City FC

Leicester City is dedicated to identifying and developing innovative internal procedures and technologies which enable the Club to realise its ambitions. Their recent transition into a new, world-class training facility is the latest phase in the Club’s long-term strategy. We realise, however, that such a move should be about far more than simply building new facilities – it is what you do with the opportunity they create which truly matters.

Utilising new technology was a central pillar in the new campus’ design, with an internal IPTV system which goes far beyond its traditional purpose. All of this means a player’s journey through the complex, from entry through to various functional and recreational areas, will involve a wide variety of deliberately targeted messaging to enhance their working experience and, essentially, performance.

Whether it be sports science staff, members of the coaching team, grounds staff, the media team or catering employees, the entire workforce all play an important role in ensuring they work seamlessly as one club across a vast training facility. The building itself may be an impressive indicator of Leicester City’s ambition, but ultimately its effectiveness is only as beneficial as the people inside and the strategies they deliver

 

BRONZE

Rangers FC

Rangers Football Club has taken the challenge of COVID-19 in it’s stride. Always held as the most important part of the club; the fans had to be provided the escape of watching the football team they love. Rangers implemented a state of the art OTT streaming delivery service to a capacity never encountered before in the Scottish game. The Club has lead the way by creating a bespoke solution. Alongside Stadion and StreamAMG Rangers produced a platform that could handle the traffic and demand that comes with the entire support watching online. 11 out of the 12 Scottish top flight sides decided to use a one-size-fits-all system: Rangers wanted to stand out and give the fans more for the season tickets they have paid for. Rangers Football Club has, and will continue to strive forward within football technology and be amongst the largest clubs in the world.

Read about the other shortlisted entrants

WINNER

NEO Studios – Take us Home: Leeds United

NEO Studios’ documentary Take us Home: Leeds United charts the club’s historic return to the Premier League after 16 years away.

The second series is made up of two 45-minute episodes that bring Take Us Home: Leeds United to a fitting conclusion. It gives viewers a front row seat to Leeds United’s extraordinary 2019/20 campaign, as the club celebrates its centenary before battling back from Covid-19 to finally secure promotion to the top tier.

As well as providing a behind the scenes look at the club’s season, the series aims to capture the passion that exists for Leeds United, and what promotion meant to supporters and the city of Leeds.

 

SILVER

BT Sport & Singula Decisions

BT SPORT CREATE ‘MATCH PASS’ DURING COVID CRISIS, SUPPORTED BY SINGULA DECISIONS

The first global COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 had a devastating impact on the Sports industry – with sporting events cancelled and millions of people forced to stay home.

While the entire football ecosystem had to adjust to new protocol that ensured games could be played safely, another major challenge emerged. With football games being played either behind closed doors or with limited capacity crowds; how would fans, whom had already purchased Premier League Season Tickets, watch their favourite football team play…at home?!

BT Sport, the home of sports entertainment from the UKs leading telecommunication provider BT Group, designed and launched a solution quickly – defining, building and deploying the new BT Sport Match Pass in only 16 days! Singula Decisions, specialists in Subscriber Intelligence, collaborated to play a major role.

BT Sport Match Pass was created as a one-off pass offered free-of-charge to qualifying Season Ticket holders allowing them the chance to watch a Premier League game, streamed via the BT Sport App.

The solution was successfully launched in May 2020 and helped football fans to watch 19 Premier League games during the 2019/2020 season.

 

BRONZE

Goal

During a year in which football was changed more than ever in modern times, Goal managed to break records, exclusives and continued to serve its fans across the world as the world’s most popular digital football destination.

Goal delivered the biggest exclusive in world sport when Lionel Messi chose Goal as his way to let fans know he was staying at Barcelona and why.

COVID may have canceled the Ballon d’Or but Goal continued to celebrate the stars of now and the future with the Goal 50 and NXGN awards.

Goal continued to tackle issues around mental health, racism and human rights while ensuring an equal footing for women in its annual awards and providing leading coverage of the women’s game.

On social media, Newswhip revealed that Goal’s English language Facebook account was the 14th most engaged with page of all Pages on Facebook in Q4 and the 7th most engaged publisher.

During that period, Goal Facebook content liked 44.4m times – more ‘like’ reactions than any other page on Facebook.

And of course, Goal utilised the Goal network to ensure accurate reporting as COVID-19 ravaged world football.