Year in review - 2024 🚀

2024 has been a year of great growth for Never Offside and our partnered clubs. There are a lot of moments and highlights both internally and externally that we can look back on proudly. In reflection on the year that is soon to be over, we have summarised some of the many key metrics and success stories:

The total user base in our apps has increased by over 100% throughout 2024, ultimately helping us surpass 200.000 users in November. The reason for this is the addition of 10 new clubs, but also our existing customers taking new steps in engaging their fanbases.

One of the key modules in our platform is “Events”. The facilitation of events for both the B2B markets and the B2C markets is something our partnered clubs have really found value in. In total, we facilitated events for more than 50.000 people in 2024.

Speaking of B2B markets, the clubs’ partners cannot be underestimated. They bring so much value to the clubs, and here at Never Offside, we see the mission of helping both our clubs and their respective partners as one of our top priorities. This has resulted in more than 8.400 companies and 15.000 employees being registered in our apps so far. These companies have, in total, posted over 440 exclusive offers to other app users and partners of their respective clubs.

Auctions are a module that can generate easy revenue for all the clubs. The most common items to auction off are the teams' jerseys, usually at the end of the year or after a special event. In 2024, our partnered clubs generated just short of 3.500.000 Norwegian kroner. Certainly not bad by any means, but this is also an area where we see huge room for improvement as more and more clubs start using us as their preferred auction host.

2024 also became a significant year in Never Offside’s history as we moved away from our own ticketing system. A big decision for us as it had been the cornerstone of our product for many of our Norwegian customers. Looking back, we definitely made the right decision though. We have now partnered with all the major ticketing services in the Nordics, and since September (the start of the ice hockey season), approximately 30.000 tickets from those external providers, have been sent from one user to another in our apps.

Finally, not in direct relation to our apps themselves, we would like to give ourselves small applause for hosting our first Best Practise Conferences. We often talk about “The Never Offside Family”, and the importance of working together by sharing ideas and experiences across sports and borders. Our conferences were hosted for the SHL, HockeyAllsvenskan, EHL and NTF, and further proved the effect of the family we have created here.

Quickfire Q&A with Frölunda HC 🇸🇪🏒

Hello Emilia, what is it like working with one of Sweden’s most prominent sports brands in communications, and how long have you been there?

Hello! I’ve been working with Frölunda HC since the autumn of 2021, so I’m currently in my fourth season – time really does fly when you’re having fun! Most of the time, it’s incredibly enjoyable and rewarding. No day is ever the same, and there are always new challenges to tackle. Working with a "product" that is so widely recognised and loved is both a privilege and, in some ways, quite straightforward. However, it also places high demands on us internally.

We constantly need to deliver at the level expected of us, both on and off the ice, and everything we do is followed closely by supporters and the media. It’s a fast-paced environment with a strong sense of teamwork, and most of the time, we have an amazing time together!

As you know, Never Offside cheered when Frölunda's management decided to bring someone on board with the title “Commercial Communicator” – could you describe your important role?

My job largely revolves around communication linked to generating revenue, both on the private and corporate sides. In practice, this often involves communication via newsletters, SMS, the website, and now also the app. How can we monetise the communication we produce, and how do we effectively deliver our commercial messages to the right target audience at the right time?

How do we attract new customers, and how should we engage with our existing, dedicated fans? I’m also the point of contact for many of our league partnerships.

What about your own sports background and interest – sometimes a fresh perspective can be an advantage, right?

I actually grew up in the ice rink, though not so much in ice hockey. I’m a retired figure skater and trained at an elite level until I graduated high school. After that, I worked for many years as a coach and choreographer. So, to say I’ve spent countless hours in ice rinks would be an understatement, and it seems I have a hard time staying away!

My interest in ice hockey has developed over the years. It started to take shape during my teenage years and grew even stronger when I met my husband, who is a total ice hockey fanatic – let’s just say he absolutely loves what I do for a living!

I think having some level of interest in hockey is important when working with us, but perhaps even more crucial is having a strong sense of community and a general passion for sports. At the office, we don’t have much direct involvement with the actual sport, and as you say, it can be valuable to bring in “outside” experience.

Personally, I come from the entertainment industry and have previously worked extensively with shows, concerts, and performances of all kinds. While there are many differences from what I do now, there’s also a lot of overlap. After all, we’re still in the business of selling live experiences.

How is the work on the Frölunda app progressing, and how does it fit into your role?

It’s moving forward steadily! For us, it’s been crucial to approach this project thoroughly, ensuring it works well from the start, which is why we’ve chosen a "slow and steady" approach. The main reason we initially developed the app was to streamline partner communication. We wanted to gather everything in one place to make the workflow smoother, both internally and for our partners.

Just a month ago, we also integrated private customers into the app, and we’re continuously exploring ways to make it more interactive and engaging for our supporters. How can we include members, season ticket holders, and other target groups to provide added value? And how can we leverage the commercial opportunities that arise?

Finally – how do you celebrate Christmas and New Year outside of the Frölunda family?

There’s not much celebrating outside of the Frölunda family this year, actually, as we have home games during the holidays for the first time in many years, which need to be communicated and promoted. However, I’ll celebrate with my “real” family in Varberg on the 23rd and at home in Gothenburg on the 24th. Then it’s straight back into the hockey world with games at Scandinavium on the 26th and 30th, which I’ll naturally watch live with my husband and our two boys (who, of course, are already little ice hockey enthusiasts at just 4 and 1.5 years old).

New Year’s will be a quiet evening with a few friends at our place for dinner – and most likely the World Juniors on TV... so as you can tell, even the holidays revolve around ice hockey! 😊

Quickfire Q&A with Sarpsborg 08 🇳🇴⚽️

Hi Alexander, what’s it like working at one of Norway’s top football clubs?
It’s incredibly rewarding and at the same time very challenging. Being close to the sport, the supporters, and our partners means that no two days are the same. It’s a role that demands a lot of energy and dedication, but it’s also a passion and a lifestyle that offers both challenges and unique moments you wouldn’t find in any other industry.

You and Raymond Fleld (Managing Director) were the first in a Norwegian football club to adopt a mobile platform and club app – how did that come about?
We saw a great need to consolidate all our content in one place—for supporters, members, our partners, and the club’s staff. It was about creating streamlined and more efficient communication. We started small, but we have a clear vision to make a big push for the app by 2025. The goal is for the app to become the hub for all engagement around the club, strengthening our connection with supporters while providing our partners with an even better platform to showcase themselves.

What’s your own football background and interest in the sport – any other favourite teams?
I’ve been playing football since I was a kid and grew up with the sport. In Sarpsborg, we didn’t have a top-tier team until well into the 2000s, so it was a special feeling when the city finally had a club to rally around. I was involved as a volunteer early on during the collaboration that led to Sarpsborg 08 and became an employee in 2016. I think having elite football in a smaller city like Sarpsborg is incredibly important. It gives the community something to come together around and be proud of.

As for other teams, I used to closely follow the Premier League and La Liga, but these days my focus is entirely on Sarpsborg 08. This is what matters most in Sarpsborg, and we need to get even better at communicating and nurturing that.

How is the work on the Sarpsborg 08 app progressing, and how does it fit into your role?
The work is going really well! We’ve already integrated the B2B section and plan to launch it fully after the new year with the help of Never Offside. The app allows us to bring together our most loyal supporters and key partners in one place, which strengthens both communication and engagement.

This is a strategic investment, and while it means we need to reprioritise other platforms where we currently have a larger reach, we believe in the value of direct communication through the app. It’s an exciting project that will help us grow in the long term.

Finally – how do you celebrate Christmas and New Year outside the S08 family?
We’ve just renovated our home, so this year we’ll be hosting the family with “pinnekjøtt” and other Norwegian Christmas favourites. With several small children in the family, it’ll be full-on and wonderfully chaotic—just as it should be.

As for New Year’s, it’ll be a quiet evening at home, most likely with the World Juniors on TV. It’s hard to completely leave football behind, even during the holidays! 😊

New partnerships - 2024

NTF

Having worked for a while with Sarpsborg 08 and Vålerenga Fotball in combination with a transparent dialogue with NTF, we are now taking a new step together. We already have full integrations with Fotballdata and TicketCo, and now we are adding yet another central provider to the list as we start working with the leagues’ CRM provider, Lime. The work is progressing in parallel with exciting discussions ahead of next year with the clubs in the Eliteserien and OBOS-ligaen.

We feel there is significant interest in our mobile platform and our concept, 'OnePlatform', where we help clubs gather all their target groups in one digital place. Our belief is that a professional sports club should only have one mobile front door, i.e., a Club App, and not send their target groups to different environments. Therefore, the projects with NTF’s providers are crucial for the quality of delivery and results, says Christer Haglund, CEO of Never Offside.

Fanzeal

Never Offside and Fanzeal have entered a partnership to strengthen their respective offerings and product portfolios while supporting each other with the aim of acquiring new customers. Never Offside currently works with over 50 clubs in the Swedish and Norwegian markets, delivering mobile platforms that provide everything a stakeholder at a club could want. Fanzeal is a white-label Fan Engagement company catering to sports and e-sports, bridging the gap between fans and clubs to foster activity and engagement both during matches and, to a large extent, when matches are not taking place.

"An exciting collaboration that will take us to new markets, but just as importantly, it enables us to present new and interesting opportunities for the large number of clubs in our family," says Christer Haglund, CEO of Never Offside.

AH Sport & Business

"Never Offside’s family of clubs is growing, and so are the revenue opportunities in our platform. The Digital Arena offers exciting activation and exposure opportunities, but club resources are often limited. AH-Sport has been supporting clubs for over 20 years, developing new sales and significant revenue channels. This might be the first time we can call it a win-win-win-win setup with winners in four aspects including partners, clubs, and contracting parties", says Christer Haglund, CEO of Never Offside.

"We've been in the same market for many years, and I'm impressed by Never Offside's journey and the apps available today. It has all the potential to create new business opportunities. We're always curious and eager to evolve, and we believe this will make us even more relevant to our target audiences", says Mikael Andersson, CEO of AH Sport & Business.

Christer's Corner - December 2024 🎅

2024 will not go down in world history as the year we bring a toast to on New Year’s Eve. Where have all the wise people and leaders gone? Thankfully, there is sport to unite us – a movement that engages both young and old and helps us focus on things other than the endless stream of news reports. There's no denying that even sports, clubs, and us here at Never Offside, are affected. Things take a bit longer, and the media frequently reports an unusually high turnover of club personnel.

After years of hard work towards the commercially strong world of ice hockey, we finally experienced a breakthrough this spring. New agreements were signed with SHL clubs Frölunda, HV71, Örebro, and Timrå, which means we now work with 50% of the league’s clubs. Meanwhile, in Norway, we achieved full coverage this year, bringing all ten clubs in the EHL on board. Adding to this, we developed the Swedish Ice Hockey Association’s mobile platform (app) ‘Folkets Lag’ and now serve the majority of the major clubs in the HockeyAllsvenskan. Ice hockey has truly come together to build a foundational structure, making it easy for clubs to create digital meeting places. Statistics, news, tickets – everything is there and ready for those who wish to embrace it.

One particularly positive development for us has been that this autumn, Norsk Toppfotball (NTF) has allowed clubs to choose their digital platforms. However, as with the aforementioned hockey leagues, they are keen to maintain a unified backbone with shared providers for tickets, CRM, statistics, and more. Our concept, which we call “OnePlatform,” brings together all target groups and creates the conditions to produce relevant content that engages everyone who is connected to the club. We are convinced that no club at this level should have multiple digital entry points, scattering supporters, members, or business partners across different environments. Instead, with OnePlatform, we integrate other systems. Never Offside acts as the club’s shopping centre, hosting shops with products that cater to all the needs and desires of the various target groups.

2025 is sure to be a great year for Never Offside – let’s hope for a better world as well, even though much work remains to be done.

Thank you to all our friends – see you in the new year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christer Haglund,

CEO of Never Offside

William Quist recaps his first year at Never Offside

It's been an amazing first year!

Over the past year, my colleagues and I have worked intensively to improve and develop our platform, which has yielded positive results. Today, the platform is significantly more advanced than it was a year ago, and we have successfully demonstrated that our concept helps sports organisations improve their communication and services and create new value for their customer groups. As a result, we have managed to attract a number of new customers, and with my background as a hockey player, it is extra exciting that some of our strongest brands are within Swedish and Norwegian hockey.

During the season, we have entered partnerships with clubs such as Färjestad, Brynäs, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, Björklöven, SSK, Västervik, Stavanger Oilers, and Vålerenga. After the holidays, we look forward to activating HV71, Frölunda, Örebro, and Timrå (and probably a few more clubs 😉).

We are extremely humble and grateful for our fantastic clients and partners who continuously challenge us to ensure that the roadmap is always full of new and exciting ideas. As a result, we look forward to bringing you a lot of exciting news in the near future.

With that said, my colleagues and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a fantastic new season. I hope to see you in the heat of the action in the future ⭐️🏒

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New Features and Functionality 📲

It’s about time we gave you all a brief look into what the Never Offside team has added to the platform recently. As always, we continuously add smaller features, fixes and improvements, but recapping all that would simply be too much. We will however list down some of the bigger changes we have made. The key to success for our platform is to have the smaller and larger changes working together to create a state-of-the-art platform. And to give ourselves some credit here, that is exactly what we have made. As a mother of fact, we are now at a point where we can confidently say that no one else in the market can provide sports organisations with a white-label app that comes close to our flexibility.
Enough bragging though, let’s get into the functionality recap. 

Enhanced auctions

Clubs have had the option to host auctions in our apps for a long time, but we have now released a new version with a handful of improvements:

• Winners are automatically notified 

• Universal links for promoting on social media and other third-party platform

• Quality of life and UX improvements for admins 

• Option to add segmentation to the auctions

• Options to add a more detailed description of items 

A simplified match banner with more opportunities

• The match banner is now automatically updated so admins don’t have to add each game manually

• Greater flexibility for what you want to promote in the banner

• Centralised the UI for admins when editing and customising games

• Option to add more info to games for an improved user experience

Increased flexibility in our spotlight module

• Spotlight is now essentially a tool to promote anything in the app

• Added support for multiple new formats

• Added option to link to almost all other modules in the app

• Added segmentation for exclusive content

• Now each club can put their own spin on things and make its platform stand out from the rest

New match data and ticketing providers

• We are working on adding data from new providers so we can have full coverage of games from the CHL for the upcoming ice hockey season

• We are already working with great ticketing providers in TicketCo and Tickster, and we will now be adding Ticketmaster to that list. In doing so, we have partnered with the three most significant players within sports ticketing in the Nordics. 

That about does it for this time. Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek into our new functionality. If you have any questions or would like to know more, reach out!

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☀️Christer's Corner - June 2024☀️

Hello, customers and colleagues in the sports industry,

After an intense spring, the summer has really kicked off and shown its best side. This, along with the European Athletics Championships, Euros, and the upcoming Olympics, puts our work discipline to the test. Green golf courses and enticing padel courts make it more challenging. However, we continue progressing by adding new functionality and welcoming new customers to our family of clubs.

Our platform has continued to develop and is now a revenue machine for the transitioned clubs. I was at a conference with the SHL/SDHL/HA a few weeks ago where the leagues managed to bring in Michael Sutherland, Chief Transformation Officer for Real Madrid, who talked about how their journey began. Despite having millions of supporters worldwide, they did not sell digital advertising spots and it was insanely expensive to get physical spots at the Bernabeu. Today, it’s completely reversed, though the physical aspect isn’t cheaper. Digital activation opportunities are huge new revenue streams, but you also need to transition and start collecting data to help companies calculate their investments.

Leading the way today are both Swedish and Norwegian ice hockey. We are currently working with all 10 clubs in Norwegian Elite Hockey, and as of now, we have 7 out of 14 SHL clubs and the same number in HockeyAllsvenskan. We have only scratched the surface. Below you can read more about this and see examples of clubs that have successfully started adopting the new business opportunities.

I also want to highlight new strong partners with whom we are making everyday life more manageable and profitable for the clubs. Our platform is the mobile entrance to the digital arena and the clubs benefit from providing behind-the-scenes necessities such as tickets, statistics, news, auctions, and much, much more. In doing so, the clubs and their target groups can have easier access to everything they care about.

The future is exciting and development is moving fast. Make sure to recharge your batteries during the summer.

I wish you all a great summer on behalf of myself and the rest of the Never Offside team!


Christer Haglund,

CEO of Never Offside

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Customer Highlights

At Never Offside, we take pride in our clients' achievements, and we're thrilled to share some recent highlights from our family of clubs. Choosing these was no easy task for us and there are many great stories that are left untold in this article. 

Halmstads BK recently launched its first-ever auction within the app, and the results have been spectacular! The auction, featuring players' shirts, not only engaged partners but also brought in a substantial revenue boost for the club. This auction has really proven the power of sports organisations who have loyal partners.

Leksands IF has been on a roll with exciting activities and initiatives. Their ongoing unique auctions and raffles have led to an impressive 100% increase in their user base. Well done to the club for fostering a strong connection with their audience and reaping the rewards!

Sarpsborg 08 has teamed up with their partner, Power, for an extraordinary campaign. To attract more users to their app, they held a raffle with a chance to win a TV if you signed up for the app. Partnerships and campaigns like these showcase the possibilities of collaboration between clubs and partners.

Storhamar Hockey became the first of our clubs to reach 25.000 users in their app. No small feat when the town it is located in has a population of just over 30.000. Storhamar was also the first club to start using our platform way back, and we are very happy to see the progress the club has made.

These are just some of the many success stories of our clients, but they prove parts of what is possible for clubs who embrace digitalisation, engage fans and collaborate with their partners. At Never Offside, we are proud to work alongside innovative and forward-thinking sports organisations. We look forward to continuing to share success stories with you all going forward.

The Never Offside APP

We pride ourselves on the family of clubs we work with daily. The family has grown a lot and we want all our clubs to benefit from each other and the network as a whole. It is with this in mind that we have decided to create our own Never Offside app.

The app will be built on the same platform and foundation that most of our clubs use today. Our plan and idea are based on having all our clubs added as partners so that you can easily contact, discuss and exchange ideas with each other. We will also be hosting Never Offside-themed events such as workshops, best practices when using the platform, and meet-ups for all our friends and partners.

Also worth mentioning is that we have a plan to use the app to communicate changes to the platform and any known issues you might encounter if, for example, a service is down. We hope this will result in quick and effective communication with you. 

The app is currently under development and we look forward to seeing you all there when it is ready.

Quickfire Q&A with Mehran from VIF Fotball

Mehran, you are a profile in Norwegian football and one of those responsible for the decision to bring Never Offside to Vålerenga – tell us why.
For us, there was never any doubt. We had several companies who wanted to collaborate with us but based on our conversations with Never Offside - the professionalism they showed us and the opportunities outlined through the app were completely in line with our needs and thoughts.

Now you're leaving Vålerenga – was it because they were relegated?
I decided long before relegation was confirmed, already in the summer, but it's unfortunate for Norwegian football that the club got relegated. Now I hope they come back up as soon as possible.

You've already signed with HamKam, so you'll remain in the top league; what will your role be there?

Here, I will have full responsibility for the commercial department and will contribute to HamKam taking more steps off the pitch. In addition, I will also be involved in the sporting aspect, making the job even more exciting and helping me take further steps in my career. 

An hour between them, will you commute, or are you exchanging the big city for small-town charm?

There will be no commuting for a good while; it will be good, but at the same time, very unusual to spend only 8 minutes commuting to work instead of 2 hours each way. I will surely miss city life at times - although Hamar is very idyllic and beautiful.

Then we keep our fingers crossed that HamKam becomes a member of the Never Offside family. Wasn't that a requirement to be part of this interview?

Haha, I must be allowed to start the job first, and then we'll see how things go over time. But there's no doubt that HamKam is also going to take significant steps off the field, especially in the digital realm, and with the experience I've gained with Never Offside, you shouldn't rule out the possibility of us wanting to collaborate with you. But first, I'm going to enjoy two more weeks of paternity leave.

New functionality - December 2023

Another year has passed which means it is time for a summary of what is new in our platform. A lot has been added, way too much to summarise in one place, but we thought we would at least mention all the major changes.

Events for private persons

Previously, events have only been accessible to partners of the clubs who use our B2B functionality, but now it is available for members and normal non-paying users of the app. As a club looking to host an event, selecting who has access to it has never been easier. In the events tab, you can select the target audience as well as whether or not it should be visible to those who do not have access. 

The key benefit to adding private events is that event functionality is no longer only available for the clubs who subscribe to our B2B package. Events to the people, we say!

The news module 

We’ve had a major reconstruction of the news module as a whole. For the end users and the admins of our clubs, this means more flexibility and tailoring content towards specific segments. Here are a few bullet points of what has changed:

• A new content builder where admins can add flexible blocks of content

• Segmentation towards partners, members and other customisable groups

• Scheduling push messages leading to news articles

• The option to enable “likes” to articles has been added

• Customisable news categories to allow users to filter by type of news

• Option to edit news originating from 3rd party news providers

Spotlight rework

We are currently working on reworking our spotlight module. The new version will allow admins to ann multiple spotlight sections on the home screen, add visibility based on segmentation and use different formats and layouts for the tiles. 

Overall, the idea here is to allow for a lot more customisation and for each app to look and feel a bit different to each other. We truly believe that this rework will be a great improvement to our platform. Development is well underway and we look forward to delivering it in the near future. Stay tuned.

Additions to Offers

Similarly to Spotlight, we are quite far along in the development of improvements to our offers module. The new version will allow for more data to be tracked so admins can stay up to date on how effective their offers are. There will also be new ways to validate the use of offers in the app as admins can choose between a control image, QR code, bar code and written code. 

This update will lead to a lot more control for admins and partners who use offers on the platform. We look forward to introducing it when it is ready. 

That just about covers all new major functionality that is now out or is in the works. In addition to the above, we always make small changes to the platform. These changes don’t make any headlines but rather make sure that everything is working as well as possible. These changes include things like reduced load times, bug fixes, and optimisation on both Android and iOS.

Christer's Corner - December 2023

In 2023, it felt like the entire world, especially world leaders, was significantly offside. The sports industry is, of course, affected when everything becomes more expensive, and both businesses and individuals tighten their grip on their wallets. It is often said that in tougher times, it is easier to excel and gain market share. For Never Offside, it has been a good year as we continue to build the Digital Arena, help our customers stay onside and generate new revenue streams and opportunities. We have welcomed many new members into the Never Offside family, including the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, Färjestad, Brynäs, Björklöven, Södertälje SK, Vålerenga Hockey, Vålerenga Fotball, Stavanger Oilers, and more. At the same time, our business is growing in many of our existing clubs as more functionality is put into use, and the clubs become more savvy and comfortable using our product.

We have strengthened the Never Offside team during the year with three new additions Johan Falk, Kristian Persson, and William Quist. We also look forward to officially announcing the addition of Stuart Lock, who has 30 years of experience working for Arsenal and Millwall, soon. Stuart will be working from London, England and is going to be the key piece for us as we look to enter the UK market. Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement in January.

Our platform is fantastic and will only continue to improve with time. We are creating club apps that become impactful revenue generators, streamline the daily operations of the clubs and increase communication effectiveness. We will take on a greater responsibility for the revenues of many clubs, and we are expanding our geographical presence. It is also a great testament to our impact when more and more industry professionals seek collaborations and integration with our mobile platform. We have a very attractive interface, and the club apps have evolved to become the mobile gateway to everything the club stands for and offers. In our platform, you can find tickets, statistics, news, membership cards, offers, events, and much more.

In all my meetings with potential customers, I present an image of six people standing in a line, all staring at their mobile phones. While showing the image, I ask if there is anyone in the room who doesn't believe that sports clubs must engage with their target audiences through mobile devices. So far, no hand has been raised, proving we are on the right track and that our platform can bring real value to any club.

Thank you for this year, dear customers and friends. 2024 promises to be a great year where we will continue to take new steps together.

Christer Haglund,

CEO of Never Offside

Never Offside 🤝 FC Stockholm

Today, Never Offside is proud to announce a partnership with the Swedish football club, FC Stockholm. The club is based in the Swedish capital and while it has only been around since 2010, it has rapidly grown and climbed up the league system at a rate that has never really been seen before. During its first eight years of existence, the club got promoted from the 7th to the 2nd division in Sweden and also set a new national record for the longest streak of undefeated games. Naturally, stats and records like these do not come without clear ambition and a serious approach to running the club. Here at Never Offside, we now look forward to helping with the club’s ambition and further growth 🇸🇪 ⚽

🗣️“FC Stockholm's forward-thinking approach to running and developing a football club in modern times is impressive and inspiring. They have already made a quick journey to the First Division with their clear focus on both sporting and commercial growth. I am convinced that within a few years, we will see FC Stockholm in the top league. It is with great confidence that we are now starting the partnership and developing the club's digital arena to open up new values and opportunities for their customer groups - all so that they are better equipped for the future”, says William Quist, Sales Executive at Never Offside.

🗣️“We already had contact with Never Offside a few years ago when we played in Division II. Since then, we have followed their journey and we are impressed by their product. We have seen what they do for other slightly larger clubs in the Allsvenskan, which is where we are on our way to and want to be in the near future. As a result, it is nice that we have now agreed on a partnership in which we have full confidence. We are a young, innovative and hungry club that must be at a high level of service to our target groups. We also have some exciting news and content that we will work with and communicate successively on the platform. Of course, it feels extra good that we are the first club in the First Division to take the step and enter this type of partnership. For us, it is an obvious decision in order to keep up with the world of digitisation”, says Edvard Sjöberg, Sales and Marketing Director at FC Stockholm.

Thank you for viewing us as a natural way to make the next steps and continue to grow as a club and organisation. We look forward to working closely with you and helping you in any way we can 🙌 

Welcome to the family, FC Stockholm 🎉

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Never Offside 🤝 Stavanger Oilers

Today, Never Offside is proud to announce a partnership with one of Norway’s most well-run ice hockey clubs, Stavanger Oilers. This partnership means a lot to us as Oilers has been one of the key missing partners in our Norwegian family of clubs. We are now committed to enhancing the experiences for the club’s fans and partners and creating new revenue streams for the club.

Together with the club, we will focus on:

• Engagement: The app developed by Never Offside will allow fans to follow the team more closely than ever before. It will include live updates, news, videos, and other exclusive content, enabling fans to stay informed about everything ongoing at the club.

• Benefits for Partners: Through the app, Never Offside and Stavanger Oilers will be able to offer partners unique visibility and marketing opportunities while providing them with exclusive events and offers.

• Communication The app will be one of the main sources of communication for the club. Here, they can send push messages, emails, and SMS to target audiences in the app.

“Finally, we can welcome one of Norway's and Norwegian hockey's strongest brands into the Never Offside family. A relatively young club, but with a track record like few others. Norwegian champions eight times and the current reigning champion. The club is known for doing everything properly and with attention to detail. Therefore, it is all the more honourable that we have now reached an agreement to develop the club's mobile platform”, says Christer Haglund, CEO at Never Offside.

“After a good process and good discussions together with Never Offside, we can finally announce that we have landed a partnership. For us, this partnership is an important piece in our digital strategy and development. The new Oilers app will contribute to getting even closer to our supporters and partners.

We constantly want to be at the forefront of everything we do, and with the help of our new Oilers app we see great value in being even more accessible and relevant.

It's about making the Oilers brand available 24/7, creating a platform where you can communicate even more closely with our supporters and also create even more added value for our partners.

Now our partners will be able to do business with each other and be associated with our club 24/7, 365 days a year. There has been a demand from them to get even closer to our loyal supporters, and we are now creating the opportunity for that.

This is just the beginning of our new digital journey, where together we will further develop the possibilities of the digital arena”, says Eirik Hogstad, Commercial Manager at Stavanger Oilers.

We would like to thank Oilers’ for joining the family and believing in the project. We are well underway with the production of the app, and we look forward to working closely with Stavanger Oilers going forward.

For more information about the partnership and Never Offside, please contact us at info@neveroffside.com

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Never Offside 🤝 The Swedish Ice Hockey Association

We are writing Never Offside history today as we are, for the first time ever, partnering with a Sports Association. To be exact we are partnering with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association - a massive deal for us simply due to how big and important the sport is in Sweden. The national team is very successful with some of the country’s honours including eight world championship gold medals and two Olympic gold medals.

“Our first, but not last, agreement with a sports association. The commercial team in the Swedish Ice Hockey Association is both innovative and ambitious under the strong leadership of Christer Plars, and we had a lengthy dialogue about the design and timing of launching the platform. Now there will be a lot of exciting events and news that the association wants to communicate, and there is, as always, a huge interest among the Swedish people in following our perhaps most popular national team. A feather in the cap and further proof that we are in the zone”, says Christer Haglund, CEO of Never Offside.

“This is an important investment that we are making towards our target groups and we will tell you a little more in detail when we launch in November”, says Christer Plars, Commercial Manager at the Swedish Ice Hockey Association.

The platform is currently under production, and we, as well as the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, look forward to sharing more details when it is due to be released.

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Quickfire Q&A with Per Viberg from SSK

We caught up with Per Viberg from SSK, one of our recent additions to the Never Offside family, to see how he was doing and how he has found his new role at SSK so far. Below you can read our dialogue as we went through a quickfire Q&A round.

NO: Hi Per Viberg, the new Commercial Manager in the long-standing Södertälje SK and former Club Manager in FBC Kalmarsund.

How did you end up here?

PER: After 6.5 years as club manager in FBC Kalmarsund, I felt finished with floorball. FBC made a fantastic journey but no other association caught on, organizationally or commercially.

I resigned without having anything ready and in connection with that SSK was looking for a commercial manager and right away I felt like this would be my next assignment.

NO: What about the interest in hockey - did you often watch league colleagues Kalmar HC and Nybro Vikings?

PER: No, but the interest in hockey is great. SSK is my first sports memory as a ten-year-old boy with the SC finals in 1985 and 1986. I am also a big New York Rangers supporter, having seen at least fifty games in MSG since 2005.

NO: You've been in for a few weeks now – what are the big differences between your current and previous roles?

PER: Hockey is a bigger sport in every way and SSK is a rich and fine association. Commercially, however, there is much to do! This is where the work we did in FBC is unique.

NO: What do you want to be your biggest impact?

PER: We must be a leading association and role model in Swedish hockey. Be at the forefront of digital development and that's why I want to continue working with you and want to take our collaboration to a new level.

NO: Finally - what do you want from the season when it's over?

PER: To feel that SSK has advanced its position commercially and sportingly. The question is not if, but when SSK plays the SHL again. The SHL needs SSK!

NO: Thanks for taking the time, Per. Best of luck for the season.

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Christer’s Corner - October 2023

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and that could not be more true than at Never Offside as of late. Overall, it has been an exciting start to the Fall as the ice hockey leagues across Europe have started and the Football season in Scandinavia is approaching its final stages. All over the world people are looking forward to seeing how their teams perform.

My team, Never Offside, has had an excellent transfer window with new additions coming in at a quick rate. During the Spring, Kristian Persson joined our Stockholm office as our new CTO, and shortly after, Johan Falk joined as Head of Sales. Towards the end of Summer, we added yet another person in Sweden, William Quist, who joined as a sales executive. William has experience as an ice hockey player and has a direct link to many of our existing clubs and partners. We have also got important pieces in place in the platform and today our Club App is a revenue and communication tool you should not be without.

Unfortunately, the world situation and the macro economy also affect the sports industry. We see that it is more difficult than ever to run an elite sports organisation today, which not least applies to the smaller sports where transfer fees, TV and betting company sponsorships are not a factor. When companies and consumers have less to spend, the clubs have to find other ways. A classic motto is that winners are created during recessions. So dear clubs, club management, and boards - now is the time to build the digital arena. Significant new revenue, more efficient administration with accurate and relevant communication. Substantial new income from the start.

If you have come this far, you also need to make the right choice and choose the right platform. Apps are as different as car brands and models. Our platform contains lots of functionality for big and small clubs and an administration tool anyone can handle. When you choose an App, you get the performance you pay for. One of the big advantages of our product is that you get your investment back in the first year.

Finally, recently a successful leader of a large Swedish football club told me something that gave me lots of motivation:

“Christer, you have succeeded in something similar to other great brands. Everyone I hear talking about apps in the sports industry is now saying they have a Score app or that other providers are going to implement Score-like functionality.”

I thought this was cool, but it is important to remember that Score was the old platform we launched in 2019. Now, we create club-specific apps that allow the clubs themselves to administer everything and own their data. That means the apps are now called, “Färjestad”, “Vålerenga”, “Djurgården”, “Hammarby” and so on instead of having one app called “Score”.

Many new clubs are joining the Never Offside family soon, and I look forward to sharing details with you soon.

See you out there!

Christer Haglund, CEO, Never Offside

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Product News - October 2023

We would like to take this opportunity to talk about some recent changes we have made to the platform as well as the changes we have planned for the near future. To us, the feedback we get from our customers is extremely important and it is what we base most of our changes on. Every day we try to accommodate the things that are most important for our customers and we are proud of how much we strive to meet their demands and wishes.

This article will act as an overview of some key changes we have made or are planning to make. Without further ado, here is an overview of the past months. 

Events for private persons

Previously, events have only been accessible to partners of the clubs who use our B2B functionality, but now it is available for members and normal non-paying users of the app. As a club looking to host an event, selecting who has access to it has never been easier. In the events tab, you can select the target audience as well as whether or not it should be visible to those who do not have access. 

The key benefit to adding private events is that event functionality is no longer only available for the clubs who subscribe to our B2B package. Events to the people, we say!

A rework of the news module

One of the areas of our platform that was starting to feel the most dated was the options you had when uploading news to the app. As a result, we have now completely reworked the whole module to better fit the clubs’ needs. Now, it is much more aligned with how the biggest and most commonly used content sites work.

Here are some of the things we have added and changed to better meet the needs of our customers and partners:

• Content blocks allow you to build up the article how you want

• Seamless integration with YouTube videos

• Segmentation based on memberships and partner levels

• Thumbnails for articles

• Sharing of news on other platforms

• Option to enable likes for articles so users can interact more with your content

Spotlight rework

Similar to the news module, our spotlight module is something that is holding us back a little bit in terms of flexibility and customisation in the app. Reworking this will allow each app to be more unique and allow for more of the content to be suited for each individual club. Our plans for doing this include:

• Different formats

• Square

• Rectangle

• Banner

• Whole screen

• Choose to include text or not

• More options for landing pages 

• Segmentation allows it to be accessible by certain partners and members

Spotlight is something that is planned for the future and not something that is available right now. We are however very keen on the possibilities it will create for our partnered clubs, therefore, we thought it would be worth including in this list regardless.

That just about covers all new major functionality that is now out or is in the works. In addition to the above, we always make small changes to the platform. These changes don’t make any headlines but rather make sure that everything is working as well as possible. These changes include things like reduced load times, bug fixes, and optimisation on both platforms. 

We look forward to keeping up the work and bringing you more product news soon.

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William Quist joins Never Offside

Never Offside strengthens the team with yet another meritorious and highly ambitious person

William Quist was raised in the ice hockey metropolis Nybro and joins the Never Offside family as a Sales Executive. Our new addition has many years under his belt as an elite player in Sweden for clubs such as Björklöven, Linköping and Almtuna, but also abroad in Canada, England and Denmark. Initially, William will work towards our already strong and fast-growing ice hockey market, but we are sure he will also make a great impression on potential customers in other sports

After finishing his professional ice hockey career, William has worked in various sales roles for the past 3-4 years. Everyone here at Never Offside has absolutely no doubt that William will fit in and add great value to the team with his experience

“I've always felt that I wanted to get back into the sports business, but I needed a few years to gain perspective. When I first met with Never Offside earlier this year, there was immediately a lot of interest, then when I got to see the platform, I was sold. My first question was; Is there any similar product on the market, and if not, why wouldn’t all clubs immediately grab the chance to use our platform? The way I see it, we have a different and easy-to-use communication tool that simplifies the operations of our customers while also creating brand-new revenue streams.
This will be a lot of fun and I look forward to getting properly started”, says William himself.

Welcome, William! We look forward to sharing many success stories and memories with you going forward.