Everybody knows how much nowadays it is worth for a club to participate in the Europe’s number one competition, the Champions League. Any team entering the group internship is entitled to a minimum cash amount of 12.7 million Euros[1]. However, it is not only monetary revenues that should interest a club, but the return of image should also be considered, as well as the media growth and the brand development, which this competition allows to achieve.
A football club, therefore, should strategically take advantage of the immense opportunities that such an internship offers, above all in terms of the media influx which it generates.
According to the data, the official website of the UEFA Champions League counts 63 million fans on the Facebook page, 19.8 million on the Instagram page and 20.2 million followers on Twitter.
A team that participates in this tournament, therefore, should pay maximum attention to the kind of content uploaded on these media platforms, using the right hashtags, proposing exclusive images and videos, showing and enhancing their players, through accurate advertising campaigns. This is because today football fans love and have the opportunity to interact and go behind the scenes of this immense world; and the football clubs have the tool which allows them to facilitate and check, in first person, how this process takes place.
Therefore, participating in this tournament and being able to use social networks, allows clubs to grow their fan-base faster, gathering new users from around the world. This is reflected in the possibility of growth, in terms of reputation, visibility and recognition, which therefore allows a team to access new opportunities, including new sponsors, investors and customers.
[1] Data estimated by UEFA, for the 2017/2018 season.