01Jul
Industry update: more on hospitality, fan experience and COVID-19
Read more on Johan Cruijff ArenA’s pop-up restaurant, Visit Mallorca Estadi, Bundesliga Match Facts and more in ESSMA’s industry update.
Expert areas
30Jun
Interview with Dominik Schreyer: What happens when football is played behind closed doors?
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic most European football clubs are forced to play games in empty stadiums, some clubs are complaining that the lack of home advantage is impacting the integrity of the competition. Of course, the impact on national health should always be our priority, but is there actually any truth the club’s claims? Can home advantage be proven statistically and is there any way we could simulate it, even without physical crowds in the stadium?
26Jun
ESSMA Webinar - Ekstraklasa's restart and impact of crowd management
The competition in Poland has restarted a few weeks ago and several Ekstraklasa competition rounds have already been played. How did the Polish clubs prepare for it? As 25% of fans are allowed inside the stadium, how to decide which fans can enter? Which social distancing guidelines will they have to follow? And how to adapt the crowd management flows?
22Jun
Re-start of Ekstraklasa and matches with a limited amount of fans
ESSMA interviewed both Piotr Bielecki, Deputy Competition Director at Ekstraklasa, and Krzysztof Szumowski, Operations Manager at Legia Warsaw, to learn more about Ekstraklasa’s restart and its new guideline which allows for a limited amount of fans to attend the matches (with a maximum stadium capacity of 25%).
18Jun
Matches behind closed doors - insights from our webinars
The main challenge for restarting operations in the stadium is the installment of all hygienic measures and requirements. Once that was covered and a hygienic officer was appointed, Borussia Mönchengladbach felt they faced the most difficult hurdle
17Jun
Industry update: more on safety, fan experience and season ticket holders
Read more on the season ticket campaigns of PSV and Royal Antwerp FC, virtual fans at LaLiga and more in ESSMA’s industry update.
15Jun
Allsvenskan is kicking-off its 2020/21 season, how has COVID-19 impacted the Swedish competition?
Allsvenskan and Superettan, the highest divisions in Sweden, have kicked-off its 2020/2021 season with 2.5 months delay. ESSMA interviewed both Robert Johansson, Head of Communication at Swedish Professional Football Leagues, and Ola Gällstad, Project Manager at Malmö FF, to learn more about their preparations towards the postponed season.
12Jun
How to increase fan experience with matches behind closed doors?
Obviously, stadium experience had disappeared since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent closure of nearly all football stadiums in Europe. Season ticket holders had to miss out on seeing their team play.