It is no secret that football is the most popular sport in the world. The amount of revenue that any professional football club generates, in any corner of the world, is enormous. Today’s big football clubs are, in themselves, large multinationals. And as such, they must be managed by the best professionals. Even so, despite having brilliant people in each of their areas of expertise, nothing would make sense without “something” capable of managing and unifying these different talents. Technology is that common thread. And the sports management of a football club is the cornerstone on which everything else pivots.
Football club managers today must meet the expectations of a wide variety of stakeholders, such as fans, players and employees, sponsors, suppliers, shareholders, the media, authorities, etc.
And without a successful sports project, none of this can make sense. Hence the title of this article: The importance of technology in the sports management of a football club.
For all this excellence in sports management to be achieved, it is necessary that the three major phases of sports management are well designed and well-executed, of course, with the help of one good management software to support it.
THE FIRST PHASE CONCERNS THE MANAGEMENT OF THE (SPORTS) STRUCTURE.
That is, how the entire structure will be managed to successfully achieve the objectives. It is here where the selection of a dynamic, stable football club management software with a successful and verifiable track record is of the utmost importance.
It will be necessary to optimize processes, unify work methodologies, improve the organization of the different teams, as well as the communication between the different technical bodies responsible for them and allow a flow of information that improves the daily work.
Thanks to the technology applied to the management of the sports structure, football clubs can have historical data of all the sections, of each of the categories, and of all their players, as well as of the rest of the sports personnel that make up the club and thus optimize their staffs, complementing their perceptions with objective data.
Only in this way, any football club in the world (professional or amateur) will be able to improve, evolve and reap the fruits of the daily work of each of its players, coaches, doctors, physical trainers, etc., who in the end, let’s not forget, are the people who make up the sports structure.
THE SECOND PHASE DEALS WITH ADAPTING THE TECHNOLOGY TO THE CLUB’S CULTURE AND METHODOLOGIES.
We will never tire of saying that our management software is like a safe, where the most precious thing a football club can have is kept: its history, its philosophy, its mentality, its tradition… Where it comes from and where it is going.
Every football club is different. Each one has its needs and its objectives. The technology has to be able to adapt to this in an individual and specific way. The work of the sports managers, supported by technology, must focus on the different training sessions for the different teams, and try to unify the work methodologies in all of them.
The different coaching staffs that are part of the club’s structure must define a series of objectives, at a sporting level, not only for their team, but they should also set individual (improvement) objectives for each member of the squad.
And these objectives must be aligned throughout the club and must be monitored and controlled on a regular basis. All these are the data that a football club management software has to be able not only to store, but to analyze, to manage and to use for its evolution and progress.
FINALLY, THE THIRD PHASE CONCERNS THE PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAYERS.
Once a management software is well configured, well adapted to the needs and objectives of a club, and well implemented, it is time to reap the benefits.
Thanks to the objective and subjective data, collected over time during training sessions and matches, the club will be able to compare feelings with players, make quick decisions, and have information available to identify different situations and scenarios in order to anticipate and offer solutions.
Only in this way, every football club will be able to help the football development (technical, physical, and tactical) of each of its players, who are definitely the ones who have to defend its colors.
Conclusion
Often, the “sports companies” establish only short-term planning, having as main objective only the survival of each team (and of each football player that composes it) during the next season, and not its development and growth for several years to come.
Although it may seem a cliché, we all know that in football the results are the most important and that demand often makes managers lose focus of that long-term survival, which is really the most important.
