Case Study

How UK football partners are Tweeting during the hiatus

During these unprecedented times around the world, sports fans are quenching their thirst for live sports content in any way they can. In the UK, football clubs and leagues are being creative and thinking outside the box — and off the pitch — to deliver engaging and informative Tweets to followers. Here are some of the main ways we’re seeing success from football partners across the UK.

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Address the situation

We are all in this together, and sport has a special way of bringing people closer. Clubs and leagues are leveraging their influence on our platform to encourage fans to stay safe, follow recommended government measures, and show a united front.

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Re-living classic and nostalgic moments

Clubs and leagues have access to incredible archives, so why not relive these incredible moments together? Iconic slices of sporting history allow fans to reminisce about happier times and relive the best goals from their favorite players and teams.

  • Liverpool created the #LFCReplayed watch party and shared unique highlights of memorable matches throughout the club’s history.
  • Manchester City gave fans the chance to vote for their favorite football moment, and then animated it beautifully.
  • The FA delved into the archives to broadcast some of @England’s most iconic matches and invited international players past and present to add their comments and memories on the stream in real time.
  • In lieu of the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament this summer, @ITVFootball is reliving the UEFA Euro 96 using the hashtag #Euro96Relived and tweeting out clips from all 31 matches of the iconic tournament.
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Leverage your VITs

Football players are some of the most-followed people on Twitter, and many fans look up to their favorite legends. The Twitter VIT app allows followers to engage directly with players via a club or league’s channel, and many clubs have been connecting with fans during this time through Q&As.

  • Arsenal ran a Q&A with their center back, Rob Holding, using #AskRob
  • Southampton FC ran a Q&A with their left wing, Moussa Djenepo, using #AskMoussa
  • Leicester City ran a Q&A with their forward, Ayoze Pérez, using #AskAyo
  • If a player does a Q&A without the VIT app, clubs can use Moments to gather all answers like Liverpool did with Virgil van Dijk’s #AskVirgil Q&A.
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Turn to esports and gaming

Many football fans are also avid #FIFA20 players, so why not join those two passions? Esports provides an opportunity for football partners to broadcast new, live content. You can leverage video editing services like Media Studio’s Producer and LiveCut to make it easy to deliver professional streams.

  • The FA hosted the #FootballsStayingHome Cup live on Twitter, a FIFA tournament between 16 England and Lionesses stars to support the National Emergencies Trust.
  • Leyton Orient FC organized a pan-European club FIFA tournament using the hashtag #UltimateQuaranTeam. They were the first to organize a wide esports tournament after the hiatus began, and 128 teams around the world participated before Wolves were crowned champions.
  • On the weekend that The Emirates FA Cup Quarter-Finals were supposed to take place, the FA decided to broadcast simulated games matching the original schedule so fans wouldn’t miss out on the magic of the cup.
  • The Premier League live-streamed its #ePremierLeague invitational competition, with one senior player from each club playing FIFA20 for the prize fund, which is being donated to the #PlayersTogether initiative.
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Make it fun

It’s important to keep the mood light during a crisis, and we’ve seen many partners creating games, quizzes, and competitions. Twitter is the perfect platform to generate conversations on a public, global level, and while live sporting events are on hold fans are still craving different ways to be entertained from home.

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