Oriol Boix – Head of Digital Products & Membership – FC Barcelona
Thomas Ehemann – Head of Digital – FC Bayern München
Finn Blakeney – Head of Digital Products – Tottenham Hotspur FC
ISC 2026 kicked off with some commercial reflections on the biggest competition in European club football: the UEFA Champions League, which once again graced the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the 2025/26 season.
The three panellists in the opening session are all central to their clubs’ efforts to engage fans through digital products and solutions.
For FC Barcelona’s Oriol Boix, the significance of the Champions League can be felt in the “emotion and passion” that emanate from the fanbase. This inspires spine-tingling matchday atmospheres – especially during the knockout phase – and massive organic activity on digital channels.
In that respect, it has an enormous strategic importance for participating clubs. Barcelona needs its digital platforms to deliver “revenue, first-party data, zero-party data and engagement”, and the scale of audience and excitement around the Champions League make it an invaluable driver of those ambitions.
“The Champions League is always the competition we are all waiting for,” said FC Bayern München’s Thomas Ehemann, who also noted a spike in digital interest around the tournament. Bayern distribute around 200 pieces of digital content per Champions League game week – around double the volume of Bundesliga games.
The German champions are prioritising a shift from third-party platforms towards their owned channels, which makes the high volume of traffic around the Champions League a vital asset. Monetisation is a priority: Bayern uses European occasions to steer fans towards ticketing, merchandise and digital products like its in-house OTT service, which carries Champions League video highlights the day after each game.
As Tottenham Hotspur’s Finn Blakeney explained, clubs need to be ready to turn that surge in demand towards commercial objectives.
Boix added that fans will be in the market for tickets for the next round of the Champions League before they are available and the opposition have been confirmed. That makes it even more important to move fans into the marketing funnel and carefully manage their sales journeys.
Gamification is another opportunity to stimulate engagement, Ehemann said, with Bayern leaning into those formats to make the most of bigger Champions League audiences. That includes a prediction game and a series of Champions League-related collectibles that can be converted into rewards at the end of the season.
Performance on the pitch, of course, is a complicating factor for any club outreach effort. This is a challenging period for Tottenham Hotspur, who have endured some difficult results in the Premier League as well as a Champions League exit in the round of 16. That demands the right response on the content side, Blakeney said, with output that celebrates community and acknowledges fan commitment.
Tottenham are also introducing digital products that champion the same qualities. These include a fan loyalty programme that will recognise supporters around the world, and new features that encourage communication between fans through content on the clubs’ official channels. Player-led content adds another layer to the relationship between clubs and their digital fanbases, with Blakeney noting that many younger supporters connect with their teams through their favourite stars. There are natural limits on access to players mid-season. Still, both Boix and Ehemann highlighted the importance of collaborations that show their value to the club as people and harness the appeal of their personalities.
Sponsors have their own role in building engagement and clubs must also be attuned to their potential value. In Barcelona’s case, Boix said, music streaming giant Spotify delivers considerable reach and emotional relevance, as well as scope for highly creative execution.
Ultimately, it is input from supporters – during the Champions League and beyond –that sends energy through a club. New cameras are planned at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Blakeney revealed, that capture more of the fan experience and bring the community inside and outside the ground closer together.