Why digital transformation is vital for Australian football

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Australian football should embrace digital transformation in order for it to succeed and grow into the future.

A simple definition of digital transformation is when businesses or organisations use digital technology to change the way that something is done.

Digital transformation in sport has a vast array of benefits, providing large opportunities for growth and enhancing fan experiences.

Australian football should be looking to provide constant connection with its fans, instead of just during the 90 minutes of a football game.

FAN EXPERIENCE & ENGAGEMENT

While the 2019/20 Hyundai A-League season did have a record amount of fan engagement with a 30% increase in digital followers and a 15% increase in engagements, there are plenty more opportunities to improve fan experience and engagement via digital transformation.

The FIFA 20 Hyundai A-League Tournament during the suspension of the A-League is a great example. It would be interesting to see a tournament like this played every year in the lead up to the season to attract younger fans and build some hype heading into the new campaign.

Social media allows for clubs to connect with fans easily, where press conferences could be live streamed or players could do Q&A’s on Facebook or Instagram Live.

There’s also opportunities at live events – digital activations at sporting events using data from the match can share information with fans at the game and at home.

The MLS and ESPN recently installed a big screen which nearly runs the length of the pitch at its recent ‘MLS is Back’ Tournament.

Tottenham Hotspurs’ new stadium is another example the digital transformation which Australian football should be looking to for inspiration.

The stadium features large video screens, wireless payment, has stadium wide connectivity with large amounts of Wi-Fi access points and has more bandwidth than any other stadium.

For NPL clubs, regular social media posting would allow the club to reach more Australian soccer fans. Branded content also allows clubs to provide more exposure to the sponsors. Clubs could also make money through these types of deals.

COVID-19

This becomes especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, where some clubs are struggling financially due to seasons being cancelled or less games being played. Branded content could provide clubs with some extra income.

Borussia Dortmund recently signed a partnership with Indian Premier League club Hyderabad FC. Dortmund will be helping to improve Hyderabad’s fan engagement, which will now have to be done in a different way.

“We can’t even think about fans in stadium right now, so it has to be done in a very organic way. We will be doing it through digital means first and soon as we can travel, we’ll have the Fan Liaison Officer to come over to India to give Hyderabad FC an understanding of how the whole phenomenon of the Dortmund fan culture exists. It’ll be a long-stretched process, but I’m positive we’ll get there one day,” Dortmund’s Managing Director for Asia-Pacific Suresh Letchmanan said.

As fans cannot be present at games in the large numbers they’re used to, the fan experience has to be rethought.

Melbourne Victory’s pre-game show ‘Victory TV’  is easily accessible for fans being streamed live on YouTube and Facebook. It provides an easy way for fans to stay engaged with their team during the pandemic.

InCrowd is a fan experience platform and services agency. InCrowd’s Head of partnerships for Australia and New Zealand, Seb Lear, spoke to Ministry of Sport about digital transformation.

“I think this transformation was inevitable and we were already seeing significant progress, but the pandemic has driven many rightsholders to bring their digital plans forward,” Lear said.

“It was Microsoft who said recently that 2 years’ worth of digital transformation had happened in 2 months, and I don’t think sport is any different.”

Mobile-only ticketing is another example of digital transformation that should be considered. This could track when people come into stadiums where they sit allowing for people to be easily identified if there are outbreaks at matches.

OTHER LEAGUES/ORGANISATIONS ARE DOING SO AND FINDING SUCCESS

Other sporting leagues and organisations around the world have embraced digital transformation and are finding success because of it.

“We will be watching this sports content battle closely over the coming year, as well as the success/engagement from the Facebook MLB endeavour, as it could be a sign of things to come with streaming platforms playing a bigger role in global professional sports broadcasting rights in the years ahead and potentially shaking up this market, while adding a major notch on the content belts of Amazon, Facebook and other new tech entrants to this arena,” Daniel Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights, told CNBC in March 2018.

This has now happened, the sports media landscape has changed and while it is still an option it is no longer absolutely necessary to go through the traditional media organisations.

The sports industry and technology has moved to allow for clubs and organisations to provide direct channels of content straight to consumers.

In the recent FFA online surveys on the XI principles, 72% people believed that the FFA/the leagues should create an on demand/live streaming football platform.

Having all Australian football available in one place would accessing content very easy for consumers.

At a time when A-League clubs are lacking free to air exposure and wanting to reach more fans free live streaming could also be an option.

The A-League in particular should look at having some games being broadcast on a service such as Twitch.

FFA CEO James Johnson recently spoke to NewsCorp about the future of the game.

“I didn’t come back here just to administer the sport. What was interesting to me was really transforming it,” Johnson said.

Transformation is on the horizon and the digital side of it cannot be forgotten.

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Manchester City must pay the ultimate price for financial cheating

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Manchester City’s financial scandal has reached boiling point. On the 29th of September, an independent commission found City guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of the league’s financial rules across nine seasons, from 2009/10 to 2017/18. The commission also upheld three of four charges concerning the club’s failure to cooperate with the Premier League investigation.

The Premier League says City used sham commercial arrangements and disguised owner funding to inflate revenue and reduce costs by more than $1.7 billion (£900 million). Abu Dhabi United Group funded $1.58 billion (£830.69 million) that appeared in City’s accounts as sponsorship money from Abu Dhabi companies. The commission concluded that City’s accounts concealed the true financial position from auditors and regulators.

The 115 charges cover inaccurate financial information, player and manager payments, financial rules and the investigation itself. City has lodged its appeal against the guilty verdict, but for such a serious sporting scandal, attention has already turned to the potential punishments. In a Premier League era where foreign investment is king and revenues have skyrocketed, we should be asking questions. How did Manchester City get away with this for so long, and how can the punishment act as a deterrent to keep the reputation of football’s biggest league intact?

The hack that exposed the story

The most uncomfortable part of this saga is how the authorities discovered it and how most likely City never would have been exposed. In 2018, German publication Der Spiegel published leaked internal City emails and documents obtained through Football Leaks. Rui Pinto, the Portuguese hacker behind Football Leaks, supplied material that alleged City had disguised owner investment as sponsorship revenue and manipulated arrangements to satisfy financial regulations.

The Premier League investigation began in December 2018. City were formally charged in February 2023, after a four-year investigation, and the hearing finally began in September 2024. That timeline is nothing short of extraordinary; eight years between the leaks being exposed and charges being brought to Manchester City does significant sporting damage.

Man City won eight major titles during the alleged period, including three Premier League titles. Recalling titles in any sport leaves a sour taste in any sports fan’s mouth. The fans of opposing sides given titles feel robbed of the special moment, and Manchester City fans could feel rightfully deceived. But it goes beyond even this as we look at who Manchester City signed during those seasons. Players such as Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne played vital roles in City’s later titles beyond the 2017/2018 season. Would they have joined if this had been uncovered earlier? It’s impossible to say, but it shows how City’s early investment from 2009/10 still contributed to their titles in the 2020’s.

The Premier League’s credibility

That delay is not just embarrassing for City; it damages the Premier League. The league is the most competitive and commercially powerful domestic competition in football. Its rules are supposed to create a framework in which clubs compete on sporting merit while remaining financially sustainable. If a club can allegedly distort its accounts by hundreds of millions of dollars and the process takes years to reach a verdict, despite City’s potential obstruction, every other club has a reason to question whether the system works.

The irony is obvious: if Football Leaks hadn’t shared what they found on Manchester City through its hack, the scheme never would have been uncovered. If financial rules were designed to stop clubs gaining an unfair competitive advantage, then the Premier League may need to change how it investigates how its clubs’ finances are being managed. If anything should be gained from this, it may be that financial regulation needs to be improved as the Premier League and its clubs spend billions.

As for Manchester City, punishment cannot simply be a fine that becomes another operating cost.

Relegation is the only serious answer

If the verdict survives the appeal, Manchester City should be removed from the Premier League and those three aforementioned league titles removed. A fine would be inadequate and, depending on what points deduction City got, would punish the club in one season while leaving the historical record largely intact. Nottingham Forest received a four point deduction for a charge of Profitability and Sustainability rules in 2023-2024. City’s 114 charges will see much greater punishment then that.

Even if City are relegated they would almost be guranteed to be promoted the next season so even that feels like a slap on the wrist. Despite their investment during the nine seasons being questioned their five titles subsequent to that period will be expected to remain in their hands. My solution is to relegate City to the Championship without the potential of promotion for three seasons, one for each title won during that time.

City fans will call that harsh but their is strong reason to come down hard and that’s because this is bigger than Manchester City. Foreign ownership has brought huge investment into English football, but investment cannot mean exemption from the rules. Owners, executives and clubs must know that the Premier League’s financial regulations carry consequences that cannot be negotiated away.

The league has a choice. It can impose a manageable punishment and move on, or it can demonstrate that competitive integrity matters more than the commercial power of its biggest clubs. If City’s appeal fails, the answer should be clear: relegation, a reckoning over the titles and a message to every owner that the Premier League’s rules are not optional.

Australian referee strike ends ahead of new A-League season

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Australia’s referee crisis is over as Football Australia (FA), the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) and the Professional Football Referees Association (PFRA) have reached an agreement ahead of the 2026/27 domestic season.

The deal ends industrial action that began on September 4th. Nearly 100 of Australia’s top referees had refused appointments during the dispute. The agreement provides immediate certainty for officials. It also clears the way for Australia’s top referees to return for the Australia Cup Final this week and the opening rounds of the A-League Men and Women competitions.

Under the new framework, referees will be contracted and employed exclusively by Football Australia. The APL will cover the cost of referees appointed to A-League matches. The arrangement runs through the end of the 2026/27 season. The three organisations will continue discussions on a longer-term structure for elite refereeing in Australia.

The agreement resolves the central dispute between the parties. Football Australia had proposed shifting responsibility for A-League referees to the APL. The referees opposed the move. They raised concerns about employment certainty. They also questioned the independence of referees working under a league controlled by the clubs they officiate.

The dispute had already disrupted Australian football. Singaporean officials were brought in for the Australia Cup semi-final between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. Rookie Australian officials also took charge of another Cup fixture during the strike. The crisis therefore moved beyond a contractual disagreement. It affected the delivery of major matches.

The A-League Men season begins on October 16 with the Sydney derby at Allianz Stadium and the A-League Women season will also begin in October. The agreement solves the immediate problem. It does not end the wider debate over refereeing in Australian football.

FA, the APL and the PFRA must now build a sustainable model for elite officials. The strike exposed uncertainty around contracts, funding and governance. Those issues cannot return every time a new season approaches. Australian football can moves forward, but this is an issue that should be reviewed for the sustainability of Australian referees.

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