How digital storytelling and gaming can lift the profile of a football competition

Spain’s La Liga competition have realised the power of digital storytelling and gaming, implementing strategies successfully to engage fans across the world.

Alfredo Bermejo, the director of digital strategy at La Liga, recently stated that building a connection with supporters is a priority, through the use of a variety of social media channels: “We need to know what the fans like, which platforms they engage with and what kind of content they like.

“Social media provides the possibility to go global and to have a scaled approach to the fans,” he said at the Social Football Summit conference.

Social media engagement data provides evidence that relevant stories of an international player at a modest club in the league, will have a bigger impact than posts about a superstar at Real Madrid or Barcelona.

“I think a common goal for all of us is to go beyond the big names and the big clubs and to try to tell stories and make other clubs and players become known by the audience,” Bermejo explained.

“We try to identify which stories are relevant within markets. Sometimes players from smaller teams have a bigger reach than the big stars because they belong to a certain territory where they are number one.”

As an example, Chinese international Wu Lei signed for Espanyol in January of 2019 with the club becoming the most-watched team on Chinese TV.  La Liga’s follower count on social media network Weibo also soared by 82% in the second half of the 2018/19 season, due to Lei’s arrival.

Similarly, in the Japanese market, Eibar have utilised the signing of Takashi Inui in 2015 to tell appropriate stories about the player and continue to build the club’s profile in the country.

The competition’s social media metrics reach their highest during the matches of each round, therefore, the use of gaming to keep fans entertained for the whole week is vitally important.

Bermejo explained: “It’s an area where data gives us an advantage. With the traffic to our official website, we have big spikes during the weekend and then, during the week, we have lower valleys. What we try to do is to generate content abroad that helps us to minimise that.”

The league’s fantasy football gaming service, La Liga Fantasy Marca, has been a huge success.

“One of our biggest investments has been in our fantasy football game,” Bermejo stated. “When we created it, we had a belief that it would help boost consumption of more matches than just the traditional Real Madrid or FC Barcelona matches.”

“When you create a team, you have to select players from different teams so the biggest match for you during a weekend may not be one involving the biggest teams,” he continued. “It may be the match where you have the most players from your fantasy line-up.”

Fans can choose which team is their favourite before selecting a squad in the fantasy game, with the data portraying a broad spread of interest and engagement with different clubs in the league.

This is significant for La Liga and for its broadcasters, as information like this is shared between both parties in the best interests of strengthening their relationship.

“In the past, leagues used to sell the rights to broadcasters and then do nothing more,” he concluded. “Now, the model has completely changed. We’re moving from B2B to B2C business, where the relationship with the client and with the fans is getting more and more important.”

Other recent examples of La Liga connecting with the gaming world include Sevilla’s commercial agreement with Fortnite, where their kit will feature in the game along with more than 20 other football teams across the world.

As of May 2020, Fortnite has amassed over 350 million players globally, with Sevilla and La Liga tapping into the potential of the gaming giant through this beneficial partnership.

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Making Football Fairer: Dreamstock DSFootball Platform

Player scouting is one of the most challenging and vitally important tasks a club has to manage, without fresh and skillful new players a club will struggle to compete with its peers.

However, scouting can take a significant amount of time, manpower and research, leaving clubs with less resources at a significant disadvantage.

Additionally, for young players aiming for a professional career in football it can be extremely difficult to get noticed, especially if they are unable to frequently travel to far away tryouts.

To bridge the gap, Japanese organisation Dreamstock aims to reshape traditional scouting procedures via technology.

Launched in 2017, Dreamstock operates one of the largest online player selection platforms in the world – DSFootball.

Via DSFootball, Dreamstock strive to achieve three goals on the path to make football fairer for upcoming talents:

  • Create connections between club and players.
  • Generate opportunities through technology and innovation.
  • Transform the scouting market with transparency

DSFootball Platform 

Available in two packages, DSFootball is a multifaceted platform designed to aid both clubs and players. The first package is designed for grassroots clubs and academy players, while the second is a premium version tailored for professional clubs and players.

Through the DSFootball app, players create a profile that details their physical attributes, location, position and footballing history. Additionally, they can upload video clips of their performances to entice clubs to contact them.

For clubs, the DSFootball platform allows them to search for the perfect players to fit their unique needs by filtering their searches.

The platform houses a vast and expansive youth database for players across the U13, U15, U17 and U20 age groups, presenting the aforementioned player profiles to clubs.

These profiles showcase the important player information scouts need to know, so they can determine if potential players are suitable for them or note. Most importantly, the profiles showcase valuable game footage and clips, allowing scouts and coaches to see the potential of players without travelling to see them in person.

Through the DSFootball platform, clubs can individually contact interesting players via their profiles, or they can launch scouting events and tryouts to assess players in person. Furthermore, DSFootball allows for direct contact to player representatives to foster important connections and conversations.

Via DSFootball, Dreamstock provides a way for clubs to access and scout players they normally never would have been able to under traditional methods, as it drastically reducing barriers for upcoming young players.

In providing each of these services, DSFootball acts as a one-stop-shop for clubs, significantly reducing the amount of hassle they are subjected to.

Global Impact 

Developing from its two headquarters in Brazil and Japan, Dreamstock has achieved significant success in its short lifespan via the DSFootball platform. With the company and its platform having grown active in over 36 countries, encompassing more than 200 clubs and 50 leagues.

Through their work, Dreamstock has fostered key partnerships with premier competitions such as the Bundesliga, Serie A, Eredivisie and even Australia’s very own A-League.

As a product, DSFootball has been revolutionary. With over one million registered players on DSFootball, Dreamstock has created a premier destination for clubs to select future stars from, connecting players to clubs at a faster and more expansive rate than ever before.

For players, DSFootball has proven to be an excellent way to develop personally and attract attention from clubs. Of the one million plus registered players on the DSFootball platform, more than 100,000 are active participants in selection.

There is no sign of Dreamstock slowing down either, attaining over two million website views each month, illustrating a continued desire for the platform.

For more information on Dreamstock and the DSFootball platform, click here.

Discover the best free apps for soccer clubs

Club management is an exceptionally difficult all-encompassing role, which can entail working long hours and tight budget restrictions. To help alleviate some of the stress, here is a list of several freely available apps and tools to help you across a variety of fields.

Club Structure & Documents

Organising how a club is structured is complex, involving large compendiums of documents, files, and more. To help assist how your club is structured and recorded, the following software can help.

Stack Team App 

The Stack Team App is a well-known app designed for use by sports teams and clubs. It allows club administrators to keep track of members with ease, send messages and information to members simply, fundraise directly, create calendars and schedules, as well track attendance and availability for matches. The app also serves as a way to keep documents in a central location, allowing for easy access.

OneNote

OneNote is Microsoft’s free note-taking platform, available on multiple platforms. It allows admins and members to outlay important club information, plan, take meeting minutes and more. All within in a format which is easy to use and can be freely shared, allowing for real-time collaboration.

Notion

Similar to OneNote, Notion operates as a note-taking tool, available on a number of platforms. However, it prides itself on being an effective and simple project management platform, allowing users to see, comment on and track work being done by others. The base version of Notion is free and provides a collaborative workspace for up to 10 people, along with integration with several major apps such as Slack. Paid versions of the app increase the number of contributors and provide unlimited file uploads.

Google Drive 

Google Drive is a free file-hosting service which allows for documents to be securely saved and then retrieved from any device, requiring only a Google account. Through Google Drive, files can be shared freely to members or kept private.

Dropbox

Like Google Drive, Dropbox is a cloud storage software which allows for files to be shared swiftly or kept protected. The free version of the app allows for up to 2GB of storage, which can be upgraded by purchasing premium subscriptions.

Club Messaging

For clubs, it is crucial admins, volunteers, players and members are always up to date with important information and have an easy way to contact each other in times of need.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a free messaging platform available on mobile phones and desktops. While it may seem at first redundant to use instead of simply texting, WhatsApp has some key advantages. Using only an internet connection for messaging and calling, WhatsApp users are not subjected to SMS charges like in regular texting. Furthermore, WhatsApp allows for far larger group chats than texting, allowing for 256 members within a single group.

Slack 

Slack is a multi-device messaging platform designed for businesses and professionals. It features the ability to divide messaging into isolated channels for convenience, integration with apps, as well as featuring voice and video calls.

Club Social Media 

In 2025 it is vital that clubs have a social media presence. It is a highly valuable tool to market a club to new members and also a platform to spread information to supporters.

The three most important social media apps your club needs to be on are Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). These platforms are free to use and can be accessed from any device.

Here, your club can post about fixtures, important events, ticketing, fundraising, membership, and more.

Club Design and Graphics 

As a club, it may seem like design and graphics are unimportant, but that is entirely untrue. Having a remarkable and unique visual style can help you stand out from other rival clubs, while posting professional looking content on social media strengthens the appeal of the club.

Canva

Known for its simplicity and ease of use, Canva is perfect for those who want to improve their club’s social media content without venturing into complex software. Available on mobile phones and desktops, Canva is versatile and offers a range of templates to help ease the design process. The base version of the app is free, while paid versions extend upon its features, offering new design tools and templates.

Adobe Express

Adobe Express is a more basic version of Adobe’s professional programs, however that does not diminish it. The app is easy to use, offering simple tools and templates, while also being available on mobiles and desktop. Adobe Express can be upgraded via paid subscription to include more templates, assets, and greater AI tools.

Conclusion

Running a club is already incredibly difficult, so always look for tools that can assist you. For any more information, feel free to contact Football Pro Directory.

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