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.