Western United renews with Tapedesign to continue collaboration

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Image credit: Western United website

Western United Football Club and Tapedesign Australia have renewed their partnership for a fourth consecutive season.

Tapedesign has played a key role in boosting the performance of the club’s A-League Men and Women players by providing grip socks for both training and matchdays.

As part of the ongoing collaboration, Tapedesign will continue to sponsor A-Leagues goalkeepers Chloe Lincoln and Tom Heward-Belle, alongside providing matchday signage. Western United fans will also benefit from a 25% discount on Tapedesign Australia products.

A new initiative for this season is the joint effort between Tapedesign and Western United to promote World Mental Health Day on October 10. On this day, players will wear green Tapedesign socks during training, with green symbolising mental health awareness.

The partnership has grown significantly over the years, with Tapedesign Australia Director Blerton Belica also joining the A-League Women coaching staff. Both organisations are committed to supporting the players and the community, and they look forward to continuing this successful collaboration.

Western United Commercial Partnerships Executive, Nathan Perrone explained the great relationship both parties have as a result of this collaboration.

“It is fantastic to extend our partnership with Tapedesign Australia for a fourth season. It has become a special relationship in the past couple of seasons with Director Blerton Belica becoming part of the A-League Women coaching staff as well,” Perrone said in a club statement.

“We are grateful for the support Blerton and the broader organisation continue to provide our players.”

Tapedesign Australia Director, Blerton Belica spoke on the amazing initiative taking place as a result of this partnership.

“We’re incredibly proud and grateful to continue our partnership with Western United for a fourth season,” Belica said in a statement.

“Being involved with a club that shares our values and commitment to excellence has been truly rewarding. Seeing our grip socks enhance player performance and now joining forces for initiatives like World Mental Health Day makes this partnership even more meaningful.

“We’re honoured to support the club’s ongoing success on the field and in the community.”

This is great news for Western United and for the local community who benefit from discounts and a fantastic mental health initiative that has a great impact off the pitch.

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‘Wunderbar’ – FC Bayern turns to enterprise AI with Wonderful partnership

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Image Credit: FC Bayern Munich

FC Bayern Munich is taking another step into the world of artificial intelligence after agreeing to a three-year global partnership with enterprise AI company Wonderful. The deal makes Wonderful the German club’s Official Enterprise AI Partner until 2029. The partnership will focus on putting AI into real-world use across Bayern’s operations, rather than limiting it to experiments or demonstrations.

AI to assists Matchday Fan Services

Wonderful’s first project will target one of the busiest and most varied areas of the club: matchday fan support. Specifically, initial implementation will be an AI agent designed to provide digital ticket support. Matchdays create a huge spike in demand for customer service for all manner of reasons: fans may struggle to access tickets, encounter account problems or need help with time-sensitive issues shortly before kick-off.

Bayern plans to use Wonderful’s technology to handle these requests faster than previously. Instead of each individual case entering a traditional support queue, the AI agent can process requests instantaneously, interacting with the club’s existing systems to hopefully resolve it. The aim is simple: get fans answers in moments, and into their seats!

The system will be integrated into Bayern’s existing technology environment – important as the AI will not operate as a separate chatbot disconnected from the club’s data and systems. It is being designed to work within the infrastructure Bayern already uses.

How Wonderful AI works

Wonderful describes its platform as an ‘enterprise AI system built to create, operate and improve AI agents.’ Those agents can perform tasks rather than simply generate text. They can work with company data, access connected systems and complete multi-step processes. The platform uses a system of reusable “skills”. Each skill can contain the instructions, tools, information and checks needed to complete a particular task. An agent can then use the appropriate skills depending on what a user needs.

For Bayern, that could mean an agent identifying that a fan has a ticket-access problem, retrieving the relevant information from the club’s systems and helping resolve the issue. Wonderful also connects its agents to existing enterprise systems. Its platform is designed to work with data platforms, customer relationship systems and other systems of record. This allows an agent to act on current information instead of relying solely on a static database.

More than a ticketing tool

Bayern and Wonderful have indicated further enterprise AI use cases will be introduced during the partnership. While customer support is an obvious starting point, AI agents could theoretically assist internal teams, automate administrative workflows or help employees find and process information.

Wonderful’s platform is designed to support customer-facing agents as well as internal and back-office workflows. It can operate across channels including chat, email and voice, giving the partnership room to expand beyond the first use case. The company also uses a deployment model built around teams working directly with organisations to put AI into production.

Bayern’s AI Strategy Enters a New Phase

The partnership signals a broader shift in how football clubs can use AI. Rather than focusing solely on analytics, Bayern is looking at AI as part of its everyday operations.

The first test will come through fan service. If the ticketing agent can reliably solve problems during the pressure of matchdays, the club will have a practical foundation for expanding AI into other areas. For the club, the biggest opportunity is therefore not one chatbot, but the creation of AI infrastructure that can support multiple parts of its organisation.

The three-year partnership gives the club and Wonderful time to develop that infrastructure. The first use case is focused and practical. The longer-term ambition is considerably broader. The next phase will be about proving that technology can make the experience better for fans while also making the organisation more efficient behind the scenes.

Football West and Keystart announce three-year grassroots partnership

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Image Credit: Football West

Football West has secured a new three-year naming rights partnership with Keystart, strengthening commercial support for Western Australia’s grassroots football competitions.

From the 2027 season, the men’s State League will become the Keystart State League, with the partnership covering the State League Night Series, Division One and Division Two competitions across First Team, Reserves and Under 18s, as well as the State League Awards.

The partnership will also see Football West rename its annual Junior and Senior Country Week carnivals Keystart Country Week from this year. The event brings regional football associations together in Perth during the September school holidays.

Keystart CEO Mark Tomasz said the partnership would provide the organisation with an opportunity to connect with Western Australians through grassroots football while supporting its broader home-ownership mission.

“We are proud to partner with Football West and support local grassroots football,” Tomasz said.

Football West CEO Jamie Harnwell said the organisation was delighted to secure the three-year commitment, describing the partnership as an important boost for the State League and Country Week.

“These are exciting times for grassroots football in WA,” said Harnwell.

The deal gives Keystart a significant presence across senior and regional football in WA, while providing Football West with longer-term commercial backing for two key areas of the state’s football ecosystem.

Keystart, a WA Government initiative, has supported more than 126,000 Western Australians into home ownership since 1989 through low-deposit and shared-equity home loans.

Partnerships of this kind play an important role in strengthening the grassroots sporting ecosystem, providing organisations with the commercial support needed to deliver strong community participation opportunities. They also give businesses a meaningful way to connect with local communities while contributing to the long-term growth and sustainability of the sport.

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