The WFS StartCup aims to turn innovation into value by connecting emerging projects with decision-makers from across the football ecosystem and exposing those solutions to real industry demand.

A proven track record

Since 2017, the StartCup has received 500+ applications across six editions, and has served as an early platform for startups that are now firmly established in the industry.

Past finalists and winners include Oura, Spiideo, Challengermode, Satisfi Labs, ThermoHuman, Content Stadium, Playo, LIGR Live and VRTL, projects that have gone on to secure Tier-1 investment, scale internationally and work with leading clubs, leagues and sports organisations.

The most recent edition alone attracted 130+ applications from over 30 countries.

Who should apply

The WFS StartCup is open to startups and projects that meet the following criteria:

• Proven traction: at least one year of revenue or equivalent market validation
• Industry relevance: a solution applicable to professional, amateur or grassroots football
• Team & ambition: a committed team with international outlook
• Exclusivity: previous WFS StartCup winners are not eligible to apply

Application process

To be considered, applicants must submit their pitch deck and project information from February 19 to the first week of May. Fill in this form to pre-register and make sure you’re one of the first to apply.

Projects will be evaluated by a jury composed of leading professionals from the tech, sports and investment ecosystems including Uday Khanna, from Accenture; Marion Reichel, from Athlete Ventures; Juan Fuentes, from GSIC powered by Microsoft; and Audra Elena Shallal, from Flying Finn Angels.

Evaluation criteria

Projects will be assessed across six key areas: 

• Product innovation 
• Strength of the management team 
• Investment readiness, 
• Go-to-market strategy
• Pitch deck quality 
• Business model positioning within the competitive landscape.

What participants get

The WFS StartCup acts as a launch platform within the WFS ecosystem.

Winner

• Speaking opportunity at World Football Summit events
• Complimentary tickets for WFS events
  

Top 5 finalists

• Pitch opportunity in front of industry decision-makers, investors and strategic partners
• Visibility across WFS channels
• Participation in the StartUp Stand
• Mentorship and advisory support
• Two complimentary tickets and a 30% discount on additional tickets
  

All participants

Access to virtual workshops with startup experts and Angel Investors from EBAN Sports.

Key dates 

• February 19th – Applications open 
• First week of May – Application deadline 
• June 16th – Finalists announced 16 De junio
• September 2026 – Final pitches and winner announced activacion en evento

The whistle’s blown. Get your application ready!

What remains far less common is seeing how a league translates that understanding into live, scalable products that operate at the core of the competition rather than at the edges.

That was the focus of a panel presented by AWS at WFS Riyadh, moderated by Amr Rawi (CEO, Game Changers), featuring Dave Mace (AWS) and Khaled Basyuni (Head of EMEA for Bundesliga). The discussion centred on how a long-term technology partnership can support a league’s fan-centric strategy in practical, measurable ways.

Starting with shared priorities

Mace described a working model based on alignment around objectives rather than tools. Before defining technical solutions, AWS worked with the Bundesliga to understand what the league was trying to achieve from a fan and business perspective.

“We work backwards from that we don’t even touch the technology conversations at first it’s literally understanding the business what are you trying to do.” — Dave Mace

That ambition has remained consistent since the early workshops that launched the partnership in 2020: engaging a global audience while preserving the Bundesliga’s identity as a fan-focused competition. The collaboration was structured around three interconnected areas — media production, fan engagement, and data and analytics — developed progressively and refined over time.

This approach allowed the league to evolve its digital products without disrupting the live football experience. 

From data generation to product delivery

The Bundesliga now generates around 3.6 million data points per match, captured through live tracking and positional systems. On their own, these numbers have limited value. Their relevance comes from how they are processed, interpreted and delivered.

Each match produces 16 Bundesliga Match Facts, distributed in real time through the league’s own platforms. These insights are designed to add context to moments on the pitch, helping fans understand why an action is difficult, unusual or decisive.

Basyuni linked this directly to fan behaviour, pointing to a 23% increase in app usage and time spent driven by the availability of live, in-game insights.

Choice as a core design principle

Another theme running through the panel was control. Rather than guiding fans through a single narrative, the Bundesliga is building experiences that allow users to decide what they want to follow during matchday.

Basyuni described a viewing model that offers an overview of all games while enabling fans to prioritise specific events, teams or players. Goals, red cards or tactical developments can be surfaced according to individual preference, giving fans the ability to shape their own experience without breaking the live nature of the competition.

“You are in the director’s role for your own viewing experience. so you get to customize it and personalize it to how you want to consume that content not how you are told to consume that content.” — Khaled Basyuni

Context over volume

Throughout the discussion, both speakers emphasised the importance of grounding data in football expertise. Mace explained how AWS combines analytics with input from coaches, players and referees to identify which moments are genuinely meaningful.

Historical archives and live positional data are used to build models that surface insights in real time, offering context rather than distraction. Mace illustrated this with a specific goal by Joshua Kimmich that carried only a 0.8% probability of scoring:

“If that goal goes in you realize it’s a rare opportunity and it’s a real skill set that kimchi’s just turned around and banged it in the top corner. but that’s a story… give that to the commentator give me a replay tell me how difficult that was story story story insight.” — Dave Mace

The aim is not to overwhelm fans with statistics, but to deepen understanding of the game as it unfolds.

Cross-industry influence

The partnership also benefits from AWS’s work across gaming, media and live entertainment. Technologies such as real-time rendering, interactive overlays and 3D environments are already familiar to fans through other digital experiences.

“We bring in people who are working on fortnite and unreal engine and things like this and we’re saying tell us what you’ve been doing and vice versa… it just made sort of common sense to mix these together.” — Dave Mace

In the Bundesliga’s case, these tools are adapted selectively, supporting new ways of explaining and visualising football without altering the sport’s tempo or structure.

Implications for leagues and rights holders

The Bundesliga–AWS partnership illustrates a more advanced stage of football’s engagement with technology. Data is treated as a product input, platforms as strategic assets, and personalisation as an outcome of design rather than an isolated feature.

For leagues and rights holders, the case highlights how sustained collaboration between a sports property and a technology partner can lead to fan experiences that are relevant, scalable and measurable — while remaining grounded in the live match.

At a recent WFS Madrid panel moderated by Chris Gratton, Managing Director at Ticketmaster Sport; Arsenal’s Venue Director, Tom McCann, and Steve Watts, Marketing Director for Brentford FC, discussed how they are co-developing the next generation of ticketing solutions. Their approach proves that success requires a combination of operational discipline and an almost artisanal focus on community listening.

The Affordability Challenge

For Brentford, the move to digital was driven by a core club pillar: affordable football. Steve Watts is clear on the club’s philosophy: “We don’t believe fans should be treated like consumers; being a fan is a journey.” However, keeping tickets accessible creates a specific business risk.

“One of our core pillars is to offer affordable football. What that means is the tickets don’t cost that much and therefore, when we’re playing Liverpool, Manchester United, or Chelsea, a lot of them find their way onto the black market,” says Watts.

To combat this, Brentford worked with Ticketmaster to implement SafeTix. The revolving barcode technology has been a game-changer:

“It has helped us make significant strides to stop away fans from being in home areas, which disrupts the atmosphere.”

The End of Anonymity

The transition from Griffin Park to the Gtech Community Stadium forced Brentford to prioritise knowing exactly who was in the building. By leveraging Ticketmaster’s digital ecosystem, the club has identified 6,000 more supporters than they knew at the start of the season. As Watts puts it:

“When people just had physical cards before, we didn’t really know who was in every seat. Now we can offer them a better experience… and we can talk to them one-on-one.”

Arsenal has seen similar gains by opening up APIs through Ticketmaster to build their own bespoke Ticketing Hub. Tom McCann pointed out that the club previously had vulnerabilities with physical distribution.

“We identified that we were under attack from bots and from touts… we knew that we had a vulnerability in our system and that we were still issuing PDFs or hard copy tickets. Introducing the ticketing hub meant that we had control over that.”

“Use it or Lose it”: The Empty Seat Policy

One of the most provocative points of the debate was how to handle hyper-demand. At Arsenal, the solution involves a mix of transparency and strict discipline regarding utilisation.

McCann is uncompromising on this front:

“If a season ticket holder doesn’t utilise their ticket for enough games (currently three), then we will take that season ticket back. Similarly, if a member is successful in the ballot and doesn’t turn up more than twice, we’ll ban them from future ballots. We want the stadium to be a fortress, and that means full seats.”

This strategy is supported by a seamless Ticket Exchange system that makes it easy for fans to pass on their seat when they cannot attend.

The Craft of Change

Both executives agree that technology cannot be imposed by decree; it must be co-developed with the fan. Brentford spoke individually with every season ticket holder during their stadium move to understand their specific expectations.

Similarly, both clubs organised in-person digital clinics where veteran fans could learn to use their phones as tickets. McCann noted that even the older demographic was among the most front-footed:

“They came to these clinics we ran and said ‘No, I want to understand, I want to use my phone, I just don’t know how.’ We showed them a dummy turnstile so they could see what it would be like on a matchday. They got it.”

This hands-on approach, supported by the technical expertise of the Ticketmaster team, ensured a smooth transition for all age groups.

Lessons for the Industry

The success of these models lies in the fact that technology is perceived as a tool for fairness. By removing the “9:00 am rush” through sophisticated balloting systems, McCann argues they have created a more democratic process:

“Selling tickets at 9:00 a.m. discriminated against people that couldn’t be online then—teachers, hospital workers, bus drivers. By moving to a ballot, supporters have a 72-hour window.”

The takeaway for stadium managers is clear. Digitalisation, developed alongside strategic partners like Ticketmaster, is the only way to scale the business and protect the matchday atmosphere. However, it only works if it is built on an honest consultation process. As McCann summarises:

“Tech has to be additive. You can’t just deliver a tech platform for a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Speaking at World Football Summit Hong Kong, Ferdinand describes a structural gap in football media: “After a match, players go into the press zone and react to an emotional moment. You’re always protecting yourself, your team, your manager. The players you see in press zones isn’t really the guys I know.”

This gap between public persona and authentic personality has created Ferdinand’s business model: accessing conversations with current players that traditional broadcasters struggle to get.

Building During, Not After

Ferdinand’s first media venture came in 2009 while still playing at United: Five, a digital magazine. His first interview was 50 Cent. “I’ve played in huge games but I was sitting there thinking: shit, I’m interviewing 50 Cent. The next one’s LeBron James.”

Five won awards for being first to market, but Ferdinand’s real education was learning how media works from the inside. When Twitter emerged, he became the first UK footballer to adopt it strategically. “With social media I could still be visible, still have connectivity. If I have something to sell, I can do that.”

The timing was deliberate. “I made a conscious effort—when I got to a point where I could close my eyes and my week would run normally, that’s when I started to explore,” Ferdinand explains. The strategy: build visibility and infrastructure during peak playing years to maintain relevance after retirement.

But entrepreneurship among professional footballers was virtually non-existent at the time. When Ferdinand opened a restaurant in Manchester in 2007, the reaction from United’s management revealed the prevailing mindset. Ferguson and CEO David Gill called him into the office, concerned the venture would distract him from football. The assumption was clear: footballers should focus exclusively on the pitch. Business interests were seen as threats to performance, not preparation for life after.

Ferdinand’s response challenged that assumption: “Boss, if you’re going to give me a 20-year contract when I retire, I’ll stop the restaurant. If not, I’m sorry. Also… are we winning?” Ferguson couldn’t argue. United were winning and Ferdinand was performing. The restaurant stayed open for 15 years, and more importantly, the principle was established: as long as sporting performance didn’t suffer, entrepreneurial exploration could continue.

The Business Model: Trust as Commercial Asset

Rio Ferdinand Presents operates on two revenue streams, both dependent on the same competitive advantage: trust-based access.

B2C: Long-form interviews (Michael Owen, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney forthcoming) distributed via YouTube. “We live outside the 90 minutes,” Ferdinand explains. “A lot of the rights holders live inside the 90 minutes—which is great—but I’m equally interested in what happens outside.”

B2B: Brands paying for authentic player access for advertising campaigns. “Commercial companies come to us to unlock players for campaigns because they know the relationship and trust means the conversation will be more authentic.”

The competitive advantage isn’t follower count or production quality—it’s access. “There’s a trust element because I played the game. I’m not there to trip them up or get a headline. I’m there to make them feel comfortable and be the real guy I know in the changing room.”

Authenticity as Commercial Strategy

For Ferdinand, authenticity drives the business model. “Authenticity is the king and that’s longevity. At some point, bullshit will be seen.”

He points to Lamine Yamal as evidence of generational shift: “This kid is authentic, he’s him. The old generation sometimes doesn’t like how he is, but all his generation understands it. Brands are starting to understand—it’s appreciating culture rather than trying to be this perfect human that no one is.”

Symbiosis With Traditional Media

Ferdinand rejects framing this as new media versus traditional media. “Both can live together and complement one another. Live football needs the behind-the-scenes access. The problem that old media has is trust.”

Ferdinand’s business doesn’t compete with broadcasters—it provides access they need but can’t produce themselves. “I’ve stepped away from the normal studio now and it feels like my shackles are off,” he says. “I’m travelling around the world, going to these guys in their houses, talking real football.”

Lessons for Athletes

Ferdinand’s journey offers specific insights for post-career planning:

Start infrastructure during playing years. Ferdinand launched Five in 2009, four years before retirement. By the time he stopped playing, he had distribution, relationships, and market understanding.

Identify your unique asset. Ferdinand’s value isn’t presenting skills—it’s trust-based access to players that traditional media can’t replicate.

Build dual revenue streams. Content alone rarely generates sufficient income. Ferdinand’s B2B model—brands paying for authentic access—creates higher-margin revenue alongside advertising.

Understand ecosystem positioning. Ferdinand’s business doesn’t replace broadcasters; it complements them by providing something they need but can’t produce.

These figures are the result of a deliberate commercial playbook discussed by Adrian Jacob, Head of Football at W7F, and Anita Asante, member of the Player Advisory Council, during their respective sessions at WFS Madrid.

The Product Playbook: High-Impact Delivery

The speed of W7F’s success is rooted in a product designed for immediate engagement. It is not a domestic league, but a global circuit of “Grand Slam” tournaments held over 3-to-4-day windows. This concentrated format creates a “festival” atmosphere that is far easier to commercialise and broadcast than a traditional season.

Core Mechanics of the W7F Product:

• The Format: 7-v-7 matches on half-sized pitches, ensuring higher scoring and constant action.
• The Pace: Two 15-minute halves with rolling substitutions to eliminate downtime.
• The Tactical Edge: The removal of the offside rule is a specific choice to increase “action events”—goals and 1-v-1 situations—per minute.
• Elite Branding: Participation is limited to global giants (e.g. Manchester United, PSG, Bayern Munich), providing instant market credibility.

The “Player Playbook”: Co-Creation & Expression

A critical differentiator in the W7F model is the role of the Player Advisory Council. Far from being just participants, the players are integral to the product’s evolution. Anita Asante, a former England international, highlighted that the council was instrumental in validating the tactical changes to ensure they enhance the game’s essence.

“I grew up playing street football and five-a-side; that’s where I developed my skill,” Asante explained. “We wanted to give elite football a platform again to feel that enjoyment and fun aspect… where they can express themselves in a different fashion.”

This player-first approach extends beyond tactics. Jacob emphasized that W7F’s rapid digital success stems from allowing authentic expression:

“So many moments went viral because we let the players be themselves. We let the players enjoy it, literally just run wild, and their personalities shone through. The biggest asset that women’s football has is the players and the ex-players.”

This co-creation model ensures the format remains competitive and authentic while helping players drive their own global profiles.

The Financial Playbook: Moving Beyond Philanthropy

A key driver of W7F’s rapid scale is the shift away from “philanthropic” funding. Jacob argues that treating the sport as a charitable cause acts as a structural barrier to growth.

“There is a huge difference between philanthropy and investment,” Jacob explained, noting that the $5 million prize purse is a strategic tool designed to attract professional capital that expects a business-driven ROI.

Jacob’s position on women’s football funding is unequivocal:

“Football is a business. You invest in a business—you don’t say after six months, ‘Where’s my money? Why haven’t I got my profits?’ It’s a long-term gain. Women’s football has to stop being grateful for everything and start pushing. Not accept everything because ‘that’s how it’s been done,’ but really say, ‘This is how we invest, this is what we want.'”

He draws a direct parallel to venture capital:

“If you invested in Uber years ago, the figures were awful for years. But you’re not asking for your money back. So why is it like that with women’s football? We need good long-term partners.”

The Growth Playbook: Tapping into “New Money”

W7F has successfully avoided competing for existing football budgets. Instead, its playbook focuses on attracting outside investors who may not have previously engaged with the 11-a-side game.

“We don’t want to take any money away from the space; it’s about bringing in new money,” Jacob stated.

This approach allows the format to tap into entirely different marketing budgets, expanding the total ecosystem rather than cannibalising it.

The Partner Playbook: A Blank Canvas for Innovation

Through a partnership with DAZN, W7F focuses on “snackable” content that aligns with modern digital habits. Jacob argued that the format offers a “blank canvas” for innovation, where partners like Ally and Invisalign move beyond static advertising to focus on deep digital integration and immersive fan experiences.

The Road Ahead

The roadmap for W7F involves establishing a consistent global circuit that occupies a permanent slot in the professional calendar. As Asante noted, the ambition is to expand to markets like Africa and Southeast Asia, exposing more young women to elite sport. By treating the product as a professional business asset, World Sevens is demonstrating how new formats can reach new demographics and attract serious investment in the current global entertainment landscape.

Foundations of the Future: Grassroots, Performance, and the Evolution of the Game — Panel featuring Anita Asante at WFS Madrid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HETUxX4su6U

Investment and New Opportunities in the Women’s Game: From Fan Interaction to Brand New Formats — Panel featuring Adrian Jacob at WFS Madrid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuMPnGDzALo

From the doorstep of the FIFA World Cup to the high-speed innovation of Formula 1, here is where the industry will meet in 2026.

WFS Mexico | Mexico City

June 3-4, 2026 We are moving to the capital. WFS Mexico will take place in Mexico City just one week before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off at the legendary Estadio Azteca. With the international football industry descending upon the city, we expect a record-breaking attendance. It is the strategic time and place to connect with global stakeholders right before the world’s biggest football tournament begins.

WFS Madrid | 10th Anniversary Edition

September 15-16, 2026 Madrid is our home, and 2026 marks a decade of World Football Summit. We return in September with the city still hearing the echoes of the engines from its very first Formula 1 Grand Prix. This timing offers a unique chance to draw inspiration from across the sporting elite, capturing the lessons and innovations of the F1 world as we gather to discuss the future of football in a city built for world-class events.

WFS Riyadh | The Next Chapter

Coming Soon The journey continues in Riyadh, and we can already promise that the next edition will be particularly special. We are currently finalising the details for our return to Saudi Arabia to ensure the timing is as impactful as the event itself. We know the industry is eager for these dates—but for this reveal, you’ll have to wait just a few more weeks. Trust us, it will be worth it.

The upcoming year represents a landmark moment for the sports industry, and we are committed to providing the platforms where the most important conversations happen. Whether it is in the vibrant heart of Mexico City, our home base in Madrid, or the rapidly evolving landscape of Riyadh, 2026 is set to be our most impactful year yet.

At a panel titled “Building Everyday Engagement” (December 10-11 2025), executives from platforms reaching hundreds of millions of fans described how they’re navigating this shift. Mo Harb (TikTok), Tom Müller (OneFootball), Sam Sadi (LiveScore), Risha Singh (Spectatr AI), and Soren West (Tait) laid out how they’re delivering hyperpersonalised experiences at industrial scale.

Sam Sadi remembers when delivering a different experience to 100 million users felt ambitious. The LiveScore Group CEO told the audience that five years ago, asking his teams to personalise the app for that scale seemed bold. Today, he is asking for something far more extreme:

“Every individual in every city should get a different version of the app in the tone they want to be spoken to, in the way they want to engage.”

The AI-Powered Shift

The technology making this possible is generative AI, allowing platforms to move from predicting what users might want to generating content for them in real time.

Sadi described how this has transformed LiveScore from a scores and statistics platform into a “storyteller.” When someone opens the app mid-match—say, on the 17th minute—the platform generates a personalised narrative of everything that’s happened so far. A fantasy football player gets stats relevant to their lineup, while someone tracking expected goals gets that specific angle.

“It could have been done before, but it would have cost a fortune,” Sadi explained. “Now this is starting to become possible.”

OneFootball: From Niche Interests to Multimodal Formats

OneFootball reaches 645 million fans monthly. Currently, the platform personalises around clubs, players, federations and language, but Tom Müller shared a vision where the medium changes with the user’s specific persona:

• The “Stats Nerd”: Receives a technical, data-heavy video summary during their morning commute.
• The “Creative”: Receives pre-match analysis rendered in a comic-book aesthetic or delivered through a specific philosophical narrative.

The platform tracks 57 sessions per month per user. This volume of interaction generates data on not just what fans care about, but the format they prefer. This approach has already proven its commercial value: Müller cited a campaign for Crypto.com where, instead of a generic tournament ad, they built a hyper-personalised funnel for every team in the Champions League, delivering the brand’s highest-performing campaign to date.

The Shift to Agentic AI

Risha Singh (Spectatr AI) defined this as the move from historical metadata to AI agents. Traditional personalisation relies on what a fan said they liked months ago; agents analyze behavior to understand intent in the current second.

“This is not about asking what colour you like or ‘do you like Ronaldo’—all that is yesterday. You understand on the fly from user behaviour,” Singh explained.

These agents ingest a rights holder’s entire repository—video, stats, and text—to synthesize a response. Instead of the user browsing for a highlight, the system generates the exact insight or clip required, whether that’s an article for one user or a highlight reel in a specific language for another.

This is what Singh calls “the wheel of monetisation.”

TikTok and the Partner Ecosystem

TikTok plays a complementary role, focusing on discovery.

“Fans want to see something they don’t see within the 90 minutes,” explained Mo Harb. “They want to be closer to their favourite athletes, see what’s happening backstage, in the tunnel, on the sidelines.”

TikTok’s Game Plan product pulls scores from partners like LiveScore and rights from IP owners to funnel engagement back to the original platforms. The strategy is to drive fans toward the primary sources rather than attempting to keep them within the social feed.

Finding the Breaking Point

Scaling this level of personalisation has a precise breaking point. Nine out of ten OneFootball users allow push notifications, and the platform currently sends 4.5 per user on average. While more notifications could mean more revenue, the risk is a permanent opt-out.

“If I send two or three more messages and the user decides to opt out, we turn a high engaged user into a low engaged user and it’s almost irreversible,” Müller noted. Soren West agreed: “If that engagement is not authentic or connective in a personal way, it’s just more noise.”

Amplifying the Human Heart

After an hour discussing AI agents and industrial-scale synthesis, Saurin West cut through to the core of the fan experience. He reminded the audience that while technology provides the scale, it is only ever an amplifier for the emotional core of the sport.

“The fan engagement that we depend on comes from the goosebumps that fans get from the game—the loss that makes people behave as if there was a death in the family,” West concluded. “What moves the needle is the same thing that moves the human heart.”

The platforms winning this race are those figuring out how to deliver a unique experience to every individual on the planet without losing the raw, emotional connection that makes football worth engaging with in the first place.

Stadiums Remain Central, But the Definition is Expanding

Stadium infrastructure emerged as the most discussed topic across all events. Industry leaders focused on what happens inside venues on matchday and beyond, addressing how stadiums function as year-round destinations, with particular emphasis on integrating commercial, entertainment, and community functions into stadium precincts. Markets preparing for major tournaments — Saudi Arabia ahead of 2034, North America before 2026 — drove much of this discussion, but the implications reach far beyond host nations.

Women’s Football: From Advocacy to Business Strategy

Women’s football solidified its position as a central industry topic, addressing infrastructure investment, broadcasting strategies, commercial models, and competitive structures around how to invest effectively and what returns to expect. What’s notable is the geographical breadth: women’s football came up consistently across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and LATAM, indicating that growth is no longer confined to a handful of mature markets.

Data and Fan-Centricity: The New Operating Model

Data and analytics discussions focused on practical application — from performance analysis and scouting to commercial decision-making and fan profiling. This connects directly to the industry-wide recognition that traditional broadcast audiences are fragmenting. Fan engagement dominated conversations, with organisations now understanding supporters as active participants whose preferences and behaviors need to drive organizational decisions.

Africa, Morocco: The Continent’s Strategic Moment

Africa’s prominence across all five WFS events reflects a continent at a critical inflection point for football development. Morocco, in particular, commanded sustained attention — not just as a World Cup 2030 co-host, but as a model for how African nations can leverage football infrastructure for broader economic and social development.

Discussions addressed infrastructure partnerships, broadcast rights strategies, talent development pathways, and commercial models suited to emerging markets. The industry is treating Africa not as tomorrow’s opportunity but as today’s priority.

The Technology Stack: From Hype to Implementation

Technology discussions were notably pragmatic, with industry leaders discussing specific use cases: scouting automation, injury prediction, fan personalisation, and operational efficiency. Content and media discussions focused on fragmentation challenges as traditional broadcasters face competition from digital platforms, social media, and direct-to-consumer models. The question is no longer whether digital distribution will disrupt traditional broadcasting, but how quickly and what rights structures can adapt.

The Commercial Pressure: Diversification as Survival

Commercial topics reflect an industry urged to diversify income streams beyond broadcasting rights. Sponsorship conversations increasingly addressed activation and value demonstration rather than simply securing deals.

Market dynamics and strategic positioning emerged as crucial themes, with clubs and leagues being pushed to prove return on investment in ways they previously didn’t need to. The recurring theme: traditional revenue models are under pressure, and the industry is searching for sustainable alternatives without yet finding consensus on what works.

Youth, Culture, and Platform Thinking

The prominence of youth development, culture, and platform strategies signals an industry thinking beyond immediate commercial returns. Youth appeared not just in talent development contexts but in audience development — how to connect with younger generations whose media consumption habits differ fundamentally from previous cohorts.

Platform thinking reflects a shift from transactional relationships to ecosystem building. Clubs, leagues, and federations increasingly see themselves as platforms that connect multiple stakeholders rather than simply selling products or rights.

Regional Patterns: Where Growth and Attention Converge

The geographical emphasis reveals where the industry sees both opportunity and transformation happening. Asia maintained consistent presence across discussions, while Mexico’s attention concentrated around its World Cup 2026 preparations and CONCACAF’s commercial evolution.

Saudi Arabia’s prominence reflects the market’s undeniable impact on global transfer markets, player movement, and competitive balance. The industry is still calibrating how to position Saudi football’s rapid growth within the global ecosystem.

What’s Telling in the Absence

Some anticipated topics were surprisingly marginal. Blockchain, NFTs, and the metaverse — once buzzy conference topics — barely registered. Streaming appeared less than expected despite being positioned as broadcasting’s future, suggesting the industry hasn’t yet figured out how to replace rights revenue from linear television.

An Industry Managing Multiple Transitions

The conversations at WFS events throughout 2025 show an industry managing multiple transitions simultaneously: from broadcast to digital, from European dominance to global multipolarity, from intuitive decision-making to data-driven analysis, from male-only to inclusive, from transactional to platform thinking.

Representatives from the Ministry of Sport, the Ministry of Investment (MISA), the Saudi Pro League, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and several of the country’s biggest professional clubs presented concrete figures on league growth, talent development, women’s football infrastructure, international event hosting, and population-level sports participation. 

The picture that emerged shows an ecosystem developing rapidly across every dimension—from commercial revenue and foreign investment to youth academies and mass engagement. These are the numbers behind the transformation.

The Saudi Pro League: Commercial and Competitive Growth

The Saudi Pro League’s revenue has tripled over the past three years. A recent long-term broadcasting deal delivered a 50% increase in value, the league now broadcasts in over 180 countries, and its social media presence has grown tenfold, according to Omar Mugharbel, CEO of the Saudi Pro League.

Part of this growth stems from structural changes in club ownership. Eleven clubs have been privatized, with more in the pipeline—a shift designed to bring operational expertise alongside capital.

“Privatization is not an objective in itself,” explained Ibrahim Almoaiqel, Assistant Deputy Minister for Investment & Privatization of the Ministry of Sport. “Our objective is to partner with people who have the know-how to operate clubs sustainably for better football and commercial outcomes.”

The ambition driving this transformation is clear.

“We are trying to keep our league within the Top 5 worldwide,” said Basim Ibrahim Sport Sector Investment Director at MISA.

Ben Harburg, whose Harburg Group recently acquired Al Kholood through the privatization process, went even further:

“This is not a backwater league. This should take its place as one of the most powerful leagues in the world.”

The strategy has attracted foreign talent at scale. More than 235 foreign players have joined Saudi clubs, according to Ibrahim. But Mugharbel was clear about the balance required:

“In order to be competitive with Serie A or La Liga, we also need to keep control, good governance, solid pillars to be sure the acceleration is controlled and in a good direction.”

From Star Signings to Talent Development

Beyond high-profile signings, the focus now extends to building the infrastructure for homegrown talent. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation oversaw 12,000 matches last year across 109 competitions, 80 of them at youth level. Supporting this expansion, the number of private clubs and academies jumped from 88 to 189 in a single year. SAFF now tracks player development across 60-70 parameters through a unified platform covering the entire pathway from youth academies to the national team, according to Hicham El Amrani Senior Advisor to SAFF.

The investment is already producing competitive results.

“For the first time in our history, in the same calendar year, the under-17, under-20, and senior national teams qualified for the World Cup,” said Lamia Bahaian, Vice President of SAFF. “This reflects real alignment in our pathways, our communities, and shows our long-term investments are bringing results.”

Women’s Football: Structure and Momentum

Within this broader growth, women’s football stands out for the pace of its development.

“Women’s football in Saudi Arabia is building real momentum, structure, opportunity, and belief,” said Bahaian.

The women’s premier league now features players from over 20 nationalities, all of whom represent their national teams, according to Bahaian.

The change is visible in club operations. Eastern Flames FC now runs six teams—first team, U-17, U-15, U-13, U-11, and futsal—creating pathways that didn’t exist two years ago. The club secured Puma as an international brand partner, demonstrating commercial viability alongside competitive development.

Maram Al Butairi from Eastern Flames described the pace:

“Two years ago it was very challenging for women’s football in KSA. Now, many people are interested in acquiring our club and partnering with us. Comparing ourselves with the rest of the world, we are going at rocket speed to develop women’s teams at youth and grassroots levels.”

Beyond Professional Sport: Population-Level Participation

But the most significant shift may be in mass participation rather than elite competition. Nine years ago, 13% of Saudi Arabia’s population practiced sport. Today, that figure stands at 59% practicing sport weekly—a fourfold increase, according to Almoaiqel from the Ministry of Sport.

The change reflects infrastructure access that didn’t exist a decade ago.

“Nine years ago in KSA, if you wanted to attend a major event, you had to travel abroad,” Almoaiqel said. “Today, the Saudi people are overflowing with options.”

Football sits at the center of this participation growth. Over 60% of Saudi citizens now consider themselves devoted football fans, according to Jesus Arroyo from the Saudi Pro League. The infrastructure development—from elite competition to grassroots facilities—has created access at every level.

The figures presented by Saudi officials at World Football Summit Riyadh show an ecosystem they describe as developing across every level—professional league revenue, youth development structures, women’s football pathways, international event hosting, and mass participation. Whether these initiatives translate into sustained competitive success will depend on maintaining investment, developing homegrown talent, and building the institutional capabilities to support long-term growth.

If yesterday’s sessions centered on Saudi Arabia’s transformation and the systems being built to sustain it, today’s agenda concentrated on the forces driving change across the global game: fragmented viewing habits, content consumption beyond the 90 minutes, and the role of data in understanding and serving new generations of supporters.

Football now competes for attention across the entire entertainment landscape, not just with other sports. The challenge is compounded by increasingly selective viewing patterns. Data presented today showed audiences now watch less than half of most matches on average, with Olek Loewenstein, Global President of Sport at TelevisaUnivision, noting that

“the number of matches has increased a lot, and there are still the same 24 hours in a day.”

This reality requires a fundamental rethinking of how the industry operates. Shahrukh Sohail of Xplere, argued that football must now think in terms of year-round entertainment:

“Sportainment is the word. Sport no longer exists on its own—you are looking at 365 days in a year to provide entertainment.”

The generational shift extends beyond viewing duration to fundamental changes in fan engagement. Where older generations supported teams, younger fans increasingly follow individual players, moving their allegiances when those players transfer. As FootballCo’s Andy Jackson explained:

“The tribal nature of football is evolving towards player-first fandom, especially in the younger generations.”

Leagues and clubs are responding by creating content far beyond traditional broadcast windows. As Saudi Pro League’s Mohammed Basrawi explained, the league introduced mobile content units to capture behind-the-scenes moments—interactions between players minutes before kick-off, the kind of authentic content that sometimes generates more engagement than the match itself.

Peter Hutton, a board member of the Saudi Pro League and former CEO of Eurosport and Head of Sports Partnerships at Meta, framed the adaptation as a strategic need:

“The world is changing very fast. You have to accept that football is not a passive activity anymore. We try to create an experience, not just games and events.”

Digital Transformation and Data

Understanding these fragmented audiences requires sophisticated data capabilities across multiple devices and platforms. Marc Veelenturf, of Atos—the global technology company providing IT infrastructure for major sporting events including the Olympics and UEFA tournaments—emphasised that personalisation now extends far beyond the 90 minutes.

Leagues are positioning themselves accordingly. Bernardo Azevedo, General Manager of Liga Portugal, cited projections that 70 percent of league revenue will come from digital sources, stating the league’s ambition to become

“the number one league worldwide, the most digital one.”

The transformation in fan relationships impacts commercial partnerships, where sponsors now expect deeper cultural integration beyond traditional logo placement. Ali AlJehani of Dentsu Sports International described the evolution:

“We build for the fans was the past—now we build with the fans. If you are not part of their culture or their values, it’s no longer just a logo on their jersey.”

That shift has moved sponsorship decisions from marketing departments to board-level investment considerations, driven by technology that makes results tangible. Dr. Noman Khawanda, of Wilber & Forsyth Consulting Partners, noted that sponsors now demand precise data on returns:

“They want to know what they are getting exactly—based on data-driven elements.”

Over two days, the third edition of WFS Riyadh examined football’s transformation from complementary angles. Day 1 focused on Saudi Arabia’s nation-building project around the sport and its global implications, while Day 2 explored worldwide shifts in fan behavior and commercial strategy. 

The conversations suggested that both dimensions will prove equally decisive in determining which leagues, clubs, and competitions thrive in football’s next chapter: the strategic ambitions reshaping football’s geography, and the evolving relationship between the game and its audiences.