OneFootball, the international soccer content portal, will support its European partner clubs to accelerate their efforts to grow in the US market after teaming up with Yahoo Sports, an arm of the web services and digital media company, to launch a dedicated content hub.
The two parties have today announced the launch of a co-branded Yahoo Sports-OneFootball hub in the US and Canada that will provide global soccer coverage including news, video, and analysis.
Launching later this year, the content will be on the Yahoo Sports website and app and feature OneFootball’s library of original and partner content.
OneFootball has partnerships with around 130 clubs around the world, several of which are shareholders of the company following its acquisition of digital media platform Dugout in 2020.
Dugout’s founding clubs included Arsenal, AC Milan, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, and Real Madrid.
The major European clubs are all seeking to increase their reach in the US with the country set to host several major soccer competitions in the coming years, including the Copa America, FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup, and the 2026 World Cup (alongside Canada and Mexico).
With more teams also touring the US for pre-season, OneFootball believes it can help its partner clubs directly target the American audience.
Speaking to select international media, OneFootball chief executive Patrick Fischer, said: “European clubs especially are looking to the US as a growth market. The huge appetite for football content is growing and that's the reason why all the clubs come to the US for summer friendly tours, etc.
“This is because of business development, and I think as a joint operation, we can deliver something really meaningful and sustainable for a long time.”
OneFootball’s shareholder clubs threw their support behind the Yahoo Sports partnership after being informed about it at an advisory board meeting in London last week, agreeing to enrich the content hub with exclusive content for fans in the US.
Fischer said: “We told the clubs that through this partnership, they now have access to the US market, which was always the weak spot over the years at OneFootball. The clubs are pushing us, they want to enter the market and use us as a vehicle to generate organic reach.
“Yahoo has studio and video production capabilities and we can easily produce stuff and amplify their brand presence in the US. The clubs are happy to invest in content partnerships with us, specifically for the US market.
“But now they can distribute the content organically with the Yahoo reach and that's quite valuable to them. We deliver organic video views to our shareholding clubs and now we add the US market to it, which is an amplifier itself, so they're more than happy and supportive.
“The next level for us will be to talk to the clubs touring the US. There are some rights to be drawn out, but we will partner with the clubs and partners will profit from it.”
Several top European sides have already announced pre-season fixtures in the US, including Premier League giants Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United who will be playing a series of head-to-head fixtures against one another in July.
Manchester City and Chelsea have each announced they will participate in the Soccer Champions Tour, which will be played in six cities in the US this summer, alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, and AC Milan.
Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, a OneFootball shareholder, will also be returning to the US and recently opened its first US office.
Carsten Cramer, the Bundesliga club’s managing director, said: “For a club like us with strong international ambitions, this landmark partnership between OneFootball and Yahoo Sports makes perfect sense.
“For BVB, it unlocks great opportunities to further grow our fanbase in North America. Through this partnership, we will reach more supporters and provide them with a wealth of compelling football content about our club.”
OneFootball and Yahoo Sports additionally claim the tie-up will “unlock new advertising and sponsorship opportunities for brands.”
Ryan Spoon, president of Yahoo Sports, said: “If you look at what we are doing right now around [US college basketball’s] March Madness, we have attached almost 10 unique title sponsors to different properties, from content to social to articles and analysis to bracket busters and sleepers and live shows.
“We’ve done this really well already in fantasy, we’re doing this really well at the moment [for March Madness], and we do this every day in other sports. We do this every day in other sports.
“This is a chance to do it with OneFootball with a new vertical that we believe will become increasingly important in the US. For potential advertisers and sponsors who want to be integrated into that traffic, messaging, and new content efforts, that's a win.”
For OneFootball the next target will be to create a similar pathway into the Middle East and North Africa region, with Fischer revealing there will be an announcement in the coming weeks around plans to expand in that market but states the company will take “a different approach.”
