The Footballco Business Podcast

On this episode, we’re speaking with Iñigo Diaz de Cerio, International Area Manager of Real Sociedad. Iñigo joins us to talk about growing fandom at home and abroad and the impact the club’s run in the UEFA Champions League had on its brand. Located in the Basque Country, Real Sociedad’s identity is rooted in the region. While the team now comprises of players from other regions and countries, th...

On this episode, Alex talks with Jenny Mitton, Managing Partner and women’s Sport Lead at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment. Jenny has extensive experience in women's sport, including football, rugby, and cricket, having worked with some of the biggest brands and rights holders in the space. We discuss the changing face of women's football, learnings from other sports, the challenges of activati...

Charlton Athletic FC are this season's EFL's Community Club of the Year and, through a number of initiatives, have placed EDI at the centre of the club's growth strategy. In this episode of the Footballco Business Podcast, hear how the club is seeing the benefits on and off the pitch and using EDI to create a unique proposition for brand partners looking to reach young football fans. This episode...

On this show, we're talking with the team behind the CBBC football documentary series 'The Academy', a show for preteen children that focuses on the young players at Southampton FC's academy. With guests from the club, CBBC and Baby Wolf Productions, the show covers creating content with and for young fans and the role the show plays in the club's fan engagement and commercial strategies. Our gues...

On this episode, we were invited to record at Manchester City’s Studio 1 to discover how the club’s creative content and production hub, City Studios, which includes a purpose-built facility in the heart of the club’s training grounds has supercharged the club’s branded content and fan-first video output. Our guests on this show are Gavin Johnson, Media Director at City Football Group, and Graham...

On this show, we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Allsvenskan by speaking with Robert Johansson, chief communications officer for Svensk Elitfotboll (Swedish Professional Football Leagues) about how their strategy to put fans first made the Allsvenskan the most popular competition in Swedish football, after decades of being behind the Premier League and Champions League. Driving this ch...

We're talking to Oakland Roots Co-founder and CMO, Edreece Arghandiwal. We hear about the importance of purpose to the club and how that and its channelling of all that's great about Oakland has created one of the coolest brands in soccer. We also delve into the backstory of the iconic Oakland Roots logo and why Edreece feels they could be challenging the likes of Real Madrid in the future.

This show was recorded at the World Football Summit Asia in December 2023 and focuses on the strategy behind the arrival of players like Ronaldo, Neymar and Benzema into the Saudi Pro League, as well as the impact it's had both on and off the pitch. The panel discuss the Saudi Pro League's marketing and media deals since the influx of new talent and the role it plays in bringing through young dome...

Our guest is Kenny Annan-Jonathan, founder of the Mailroom Creative Agency and, as of last year, creative director at Crystal Palace. This appointment made Palace the first Premier League club to hire a creative lead to oversee apparel collections and fashion partnerships. We're talking to Kenny about the potential for club-led fashion, his role at Crystal Palace and how he believes the media need...

On this show, we're speaking with Senior Reporter for Sky Sports, Melissa Reddy. We discuss the difficulties of reporting on the January Transfer Window, separating fact from fiction and how reporting transfers has matured to be more than just about who is going where. Also, with Mel having written the book on Jurgen Klopp (Believe Us) we discuss his approach to the media and what it's been like r...

This show was recorded in December at Soccerex Americas, in Miami. Featuring, Russel Jones (GM, Marketing & Commercial Growth at Wolves), Rich Orosco (Chief Brand Officer at Los Angeles Football Club) and Owen Blackhurst (Editor at MUNDIAL). Focusing on the story behind and the creation of 1967: When L.A. Wolves conquered the USA, which tells the story of how the English team Wolverhampton Wanders...

We're talking to Sebastian Ochs, head of global football partnership for Allianz. With its name on seven football stadiums and more rumoured to be on the way, Sebastian tells us what Allianz look for when choosing stadiums to add to its portfolio and why it sponsors more stadiums than any other brand. Also, with upwards of 90% of stadiums across major US sports having naming rights deals, upwards...

Our guest on this show is Jessie Giordano, Executive Vice President for Global Sports at GMR FC, which is part of global experience agency GMR Marketing. Jessie joined us to discuss the opportunities and challenges for brands looking to activate around the 2026 FIFA World Cup. We covered what brands should know when it comes to activating around that tournament, what GMR FC experts have learned fr...

Detroit City FC were founded from a community beer league and have been driving social change in the city ever since. We speak to the club's co-founder and CEO, Sean Mann about how the club became the first professional sports team in the US to wear a shirt supporting LGBTQ rights, how it balances being a force for change in Detroit with success on the pitch and how all this affects their work wit...

We're talking to Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi about his new film Next Goal Wins. The film tells the story of the American Samoa football team and their quest to score just one goal following their historic 31-0 humbling by Australia in 2001. Taika discusses the film as well as the difficulties of directing a football match, whether football takes itself too seriously and other sports stori...

IOur guest is James Salmon, senior marketing director for EA Sports FC. We discuss why Erlin Haaland was the best choice to be the first EAFC cover star, the role of the cover in marketing FC24 and how FC Futures and female players in Ultimate Team signal the future for the series.

We're talking with Michael Long, editorial director at SportsPro about SportsPro’s annual list of the world’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes (50MM). We discuss why Messi had to be number one, the benefits for 'brand Messi' in the US and if anyone can dethrone him next year. We also talk about the increase in the marketability of women's football and the players driving it, as well what Harry Kane off...

On this show we're talking to Matthew Barrett, founder of Goal Click about their unique approach to football photography and storytelling. We hear about working with the USWNT and Concacaf, telling football stories in war zones and refugee camps and how using disposable cameras offers something not found in mobile photography. To see the photography Matthew is referring to in this show, either vis...

On this show, we’re talking to streamer, content creator, and esports caster Brandon Smith. Brandon's career has been focused on the FIFA video game series, now EA Sports FC 24 and has seen him amass more than 2m followers across TikTok, Facebook Gaming, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Brandon discusses his own career, EA Sports FC as an esport and what works and what doesn’t when it comes to crea...

On this show, our guest is Mark Kirkham, SVP and chief marketing ffficer of PepsiCo’s International Beverages business. Mark talks about the role that music, grassroots and gaming play in the company's football strategy and PepsiCo's recently renewed UEFA Champions League partnership. Mark also discusses PepsiCo's extensive history with music, what it takes to plan the Champions League final pre-g...

They have a YouTube following greater than most teams in the Premier League and fans visiting from Australia, but what are the realities of running the most modern non-league football club? We speak to Hashtag United's chief commercial officer, Seb Carmichael-Brown on what it's really like to run Hashtag United, from deals with adidas and Socios to chasing promotion and balancing the books in the ...

On this show, we're talking to Carlos Valenzuela, vice president of operations and marketing at Club Tigres. Carlos joins us to explain how Club Tigres Femenil is growing its brand in North America and the strategy behind the launch of its English-language social accounts. Carlos also explains their partnership with the record-breaking Warner Bros. film Barbie and how Club Tigres Femenil became th...

Joining us on this show are Mike Armstrong, chief marketing and communications officer at Juventus, and the club’s head of digital media, Marco Castellaneta. Mike and Marco join us to discuss Juventus’ Creator Lab, which creates more than 1,500 pieces of content for the club’s channels every month and has played a major role in generating 2bn more video views this year than last for the club! The...

On this show, we’re going to Cannes and bringing you a panel from Sport Beach, which was hosted by Stagwell Inc. during last month’s Cannes Lions. This panel focused on building brand partnerships in women’s football and featured former U.S. Women’s National Team & Gotham FC goalkeeper and current Global Creative advisor for Gotham FC, Ashlyn Harris; actor and Angel City Football Club investor, So...

On this show, we're re-publishing GOAL's 2019 interview with director, Asif Kapadia and editor, Chris King about their film, Diego Maradona. We discuss the challenges of working with Diego and the unique process behind the definitive film on Maradona's time at Napoli. The interview was recorded live at the London Gala Screen of the film and is being published today, July 5th, 39 years to the day s...