Successful cloud-based digital transformation of The Swedish Football Association

Client Challenge: The SvFF was looking for a new digitized system with improved support for training their football players. Their challenge was to bring together their national teams under one umbrella, and then execute trainings for the players of all ages in a balanced, consistent manner. They needed a system that would lead to reduced personal dependency, be cost-effective, and would provide better and deeper analysis on the players. The system also had to be automated to avoid the manual collection and processing of data.

The Solution: Capgemini, along with SAP, delivered SAP Sports One, a cloud-based solution which enabled SvFF to collect, manage, and analyze information about the football matches, players’ trainings, their health and medical reports, and scouting – all in one place. The system was developed by SAP with Capgemini being the integration partner.

Benefits:

• SAP Sports One is completely cloud-based and consists of various modules, for example, team selection, training, scouting, and player health. All data from matches and training can be uploaded on to the system by the users, either via SvFF’s own systems or through other integrations.
• With the help of mobile apps, everyone in the organization is now able to exchange messages and also answer surveys and health questions. All the information, such as players’ illnesses, injuries, treatments, are registered on to the system.
• The feedback between SvFF and the football association is simplified as all the data about the players is available on the SAP Sports One platform.
• The scouting tool can be used to keep track of players’ and opponents’ performances.
• One can also register players’ expenses such as hotel bills and other facilities used during matches, site visits, etc.
• SAP Sports One has built-in functions for data security and integrity; only the designated people in the organization have access to the information on the platform.

First on the digitalization journey within SvFF is the Swedish women’s and men’s national team, which started using SAP Sports One in early 2021. Subsequently, all Swedish national league teams will be using the new solution. Marika Domanski Lyfors, Head of the Women’s National Team at the Swedish Football Association noted that they compared many different systems, and SAP Sports One was the only one that met all their needs.

Capgemini and SAP have previously delivered SAP Sports One to the Malmö Redhawks ice hockey team over the course of their longstanding partnership. SAP Sports One was launched in 2015 and is used everyday in football, ice hockey, basketball, handball, skiing, and rugby. Overall, the SAP Sports One solution is used by 77 sports teams and organizations around the world.