Organisations as development and knowledge providers

ers and/or professionals. The clubs rely on memberships of players and a group of coaches. It has also been obvious that technology is not only for elite clubs. A number of the football tech startups identified in the football-tech report also have a grassroots approach in the product and/or service design and in their business model. In grassroots clubs, friends are a potential of new members and sharing the joy of football, and in elite clubs, talent development is a focus of revenue gain, and by these differences it is obvious that grassroots clubs are inclusive in their approach, while the elite clubs have to some extent a more exclusive approach to player development. Grassroots clubs and elite clubs both have a strategy of engaging volunteers. In the first case, for coaching or board work, and in the elite clubs, for supporting events and matches and engaging fans as supporters for the creation of engaging football experiences at the stadiums. Because of the sponsors, the elite clubs focus on public relations and often have media policies, whereas the grassroots clubs often rely on local press or basic social media.

Organisations as development and knowledge providers

The organisations (DBU, Divisionsforeningen, research units and local municipalities) supporting the clubs identify the needs of the clubs and see the clubs as collaborative partners in identifying, developing and validating new concepts of football activities or performance improvement. The organisations have identified that they need a clearer focus on the implementation of new concepts.

“We have recognised that the implementation is an important and overlooked element in the project work – so you avoid "secret" projects.” The organisation has also identified that projects tend to “die” when finished. The football organisation therefore asks for support to identify how the operation is maintained after the project ends. They like to get support to include this element in the concept description and the financing model. Further, the football organisation sees the most pronounced opportunities in having an executive approach – invent and test without too much talk.