FC Shakhtar Donetsk is one of the top football clubs in Europe located in Ukraine.

The club is constantly focused on developing and improving, both in the short term and long term. FC Shakhtar Donetsk is a club that understands the importance of defining and managing the strategic long term as much as managing the short-term challenges and operations.

LTT Sports was appointed to develop a club strategy for 2021-2027 with a 360-degree overview of its structure and operations but stopped due to the war.

• Aligning short-term, medium-term and long-term goals
• Assessing overall club management functions and operations within the broad strategic framework
• Updating and evolving standards for measurement
• Deriving insights impacting both on-field and off-field results

Our approach to assessing football clubs is based on extensive experience in football and other fields. We created a formal, structured and well adopted view of football, oriented on three key pillars of sport, business, and community.

With our expertise and skills in analysis, strategic modelling, and operational assessment, LTT Sports were well placed to help develop FC Shakhtar Donetsk’s future thinking.

• Enhanced analysis of the strategic objectives for the club segregating into vertical and horizontal perspectives
• Workshop dialogue on key pillars including current position and vision
• Commentary & Recommendations on each pillar with both short-term & long-term objectives (strategic & operational)
• Best-in-class examples and industry performance indicators shared and explained to the Executive Team to set further targets
• Mitigating the working through the limitations of the Ukraine crisis

The overarching aim was to assist Athletic Club to better understand how the values-driven culture propels the club forward – even in times of mass negativity affecting the football industry overall.

Athletic Club has a deep sense of purpose and prides itself on its value driven culture and approach. With some broad and challenging negative sentiments effecting the football industry, Athletic Club appointed LTT Sports to validate their strong and dedicated approach. Their belief was that it would distinguish them and set them apart as a football club for the future, for the fans and the community it serves.

• To gain an overview of how Athletic Club functions on an operational level.
• To establish how different departments work with each other, and what are the most important operational connections and relationships.
• To get an understanding of the individual values and philosophy of various representatives of the club’s middle and senior management.
• To correlate the above with existing structural values defined by Athletic Club and find out in an empirical way whether the values that have been defined are actually present and thriving within the organisation.
• To analyse the operational functioning of the club from the point of view of effectiveness and to propose ways to optimise operations.

As part of the report and project conclusion, questions were posed to prompt the club to consider some key issues that could arise from the context, the reality, and the operational practice of the club. These questions reflect issues that are already clearly present, could become relevant or are generally considered important for the future of the club as an organisation.

The last part of the process was to map these internal findings with external football markets, the broader industry and wider global customer base.

A series of analytical tools, models and metrics were deployed and distilled to show Athletic Club their performance against industry leaders within and outside of the football industry.

Malmö FF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won.

We were commissioned to prepare an analysis of the football industry post COVID-19, based on three main revenue streams.

With our extensive network and knowledge of the European football industry, we had the information and experience needed to carry out a comprehensive analysis and provide qualified answers quickly and systematically.

By focusing on three core revenue streams, we were tasked to analyse potential scenarios and future possibilities in the uncertain reality of football following the crisis of the pandemic. Following a presentation of the analysis, we supported the club management and Executive Board by facilitating the discussion at the annual strategic Board workshop to validate strategic decisions through benchmarking and analysis.

As a follow up from the Board Strategy workshop discussions, we prepared a strategic summary and recommendations going forward

• Strategic revenue report including scenario predictions
• Tailor-made matrix of recommendations
• Annual Strategy Workshop session organised at the Eleda Stadium in Malmö
• Group discussion session with the Board Members to consider key outcomes
• Detailed analysis and benchmarking of club revenue performance across European Football
• Our assessment and recommendations resulted in Malmö FF having greater confidence and know-how of revenue analysis and are well into planning for post-covid scenarios

Ekstraklasa is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Established in 1919, Ekstraklasa has been operating for over 100 years, encapsulating 82 clubs.

More recently, the League has seen sustained commercial growth, specifically for TV-rights, sponsorships, and international brand awareness. On the sporting side, despite the huge potential of Polish Football and the growing interest, the sports development and progression in the UEFA rankings has been more gradual than expected.

We worked with Ekstraklasa to complete a comprehensive strategic transformation to address the overall objective and prepare the leagues and clubs for the next 100 years of sustained growth of Polish Football. The goal was simple – evaluate everything measurable to help improve and further develop the sports and financial environment of Polish Football

Understanding all the different stakeholders, the varied ecosystem, playing fields and club operating conditions across Ekstraklasa was critical to this project. In addition to the Ekstraklasa stakeholders, we consulted for each club individually to understand their specific challenges. Investing in thorough primary research via interviews with a range of stakeholders including but not limited to club representatives, owners, senior management, and specialised club staff in key areas - helped uncover in-depth detail and provide form to the strategic transformation plan.

• Strategic evaluation of league performance; current performance and areas for improvement
• Detailed reports and benchmarking of global football quality factors including measurements and feedback received from the Spanish La Liga, Belgian Pro League, Czech LFA and Swiss Super league
• Evaluation and recommendation of the available resources of Ekstraklasa clubs
• Facilitated collaboration working sessions – bringing the clubs & league counterparts together to collectively focus on growth areas
• Over 100 hours of primary research with club representatives
• Dedicated sports performance workshops featuring relevant in-class case studies, key insights from primary data and recommendations for future growth

Football clubs are all part of a complex system operating in a local environment with both local and domestic regulations, while aiming to perform in domestic competitions in order to reach European competitions to develop visibility, brand and boost its commercial operations.

Through our long-standing knowledge and understanding of European football at large, ASM requested us to provide input on key football matters and advice for strategic decision-making. Through several working sessions, we offered counsel and suggestions relating to opportunities provided by the different levels of the ecosystem. A key focus was to shed light on the positive and progressive changes within the football ecosystem brought by the challenges of the pandemic, by connecting the dots and providing direction on how to reach a position of greater influence on the environment surrounding the club.

• Over 20 meetings providing tailor-made analysis and proposals to internal governance with KPIs measured

Develop a growth strategy for Hajduk Split. The overall aim was to evaluate all individual areas of the club and prepare an effective development strategy.

Through extensive interviews with carefully selected club representatives, the aim was to understand the relevant issues within the club from different perspectives. This enabled us to create a function-by-function assessment and holistic view of internal collaboration and style of working.

• The results of the analysis of the interviews were presented in a final report to the club management. In this report, we described our insights in each area of the club, with current and forthcoming challenges, and the impact of included activities on the club's overall strategy.
• Club stakeholders and representatives became more collaborative, cohesive, and understanding of their individual role in the unified strategy, achieving continued success.

In 2019, after more than three years of consultation with national associations, clubs and European Club Association (ECA), a new format was developed by UEFA for the Women’s Champions League in 2019. Our managing partners were the main drivers for the UEFA Women’s Champions League competition reform, leading the overview of the sporting competition format and its commercial package.

The overall aim was to offer the opportunity for more top games between the women’s clubs on the European stage that would drive the development of women’s football forward and increase interest among fans and sponsors.

We ran consultations and workshops with multiple stakeholders to understand the current challenges and the desired future direction for the league. We conducted a valuation of the league, its competition format and commercial package to establish the best model moving forward. Our approach focused on enhancing and strengthening the League on every level from concept through to implementation and ongoing management.

We ran consultations and workshops with multiple stakeholders to understand the current challenges and the desired future direction for the league. We conducted a valuation of the league, its competition format and commercial package to establish the best model moving forward. Our approach focused on enhancing and strengthening the League on every level from concept through to implementation and ongoing management.

A more competitive and interesting format, implementing a group stage, and extending the access to more clubs across Europe. By increasing the sporting quality of the competition, this has become the premier women’s club football competition globally.

The new format doubles the reach and value of the UEFA Women’s Champions League with a 20% increase in the number of matches and gives the tournament more competitive games and increased visibility and quality.The changes have been well received by players, fans and clubs alike and the rise continues to show in the women’s game.

FCI Levadia is one of the top clubs in Estonia with a clear perspective to grow and develop. We were asked to complete two key strategic pieces to enhance FCI’s growth:

• A comprehensive audit of current practices both on and off the pitch
• A clear direction and detailed medium-term plan for the club’s development.

Our approach was simple yet specific. Using our expertise and knowledge, we ran a transparent and robust audit of the current club environment. We conducted an online basis audit covering strategic areas of club management, in collaboration with the top management of FCI Levadia. Our goal was to enable FCI to focus on sustained growth and longevity in a volatile world.

• Detailed reports, analysis, and insights for FCI Levadia’s top management
• A clear roadmap for how to improve these areas
• A bespoke gap analysis (evidence & data based)
• Executive Report
• Parallel analysis of the local Estonian entertainment industry to highlight key actions and areas
• Key topics that may influence further development of FCI Levadia and key tips on how to overcome & plan for such circumstances

To setup and develop league operations and functioning, create benchmarks and cover all areas such as sustainability, finance, governance and model-framework

3 main pillars identified for sustainable growth & development; Professional, Value-Proposition & Package (entertainment – community), Think Global Act Local

Network integration and governance model established to put into flow full operations and league activities. Step-by-step plan and guidelines ensuring future success and evolution of Haitian football.

• Helping to make it professional
  • Integrity
  • Organisation
  • Licensing
• Creating a value-proposition & package
  • Within game
  • Around game
  • Beyond game
• Creating a new framework Think Global Act Local
  • Part of local communities
  • Local flavour
  • Home and abroad