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