Five opportunities in football data..
A different kind of newsletter...
For a change, we thought to do something different with this week’s newsletter. It’s less “stat-y and more informative outside the numbers, looking into some opportunities in the ever-changing world of football data. Our work started as a passion project (and in large parts still is), but we got a lot of help along the way (sometimes free), from people who were collecting data way before social media was even a concept. In the same spirit, we thought to give back to our newsletter subscribers a little - hopefully it helps a few who are pondering going down this route. Sometimes we see “opportunities”, that we can’t pursue with reasonable justification. This newsletter could be valuable to aspiring content creators, sports journalism students or graduates, or sports data-enthusiasts.
NB: We’re not advertising any jobs or any account, and can not guarantee any success.
Opportunity 1. Club specific stats
Opta Jabu is a generic page that covers all SA top-flight teams, all domestic Cups, Bafana, Banyana, and some continental football (AFCON & CAFCL/CAFCC - with a PSL focus). We’ve been at it for 2,448 days (sorry can’t resist a stat), and 13k posts in that tims means we average 5 posts a day. We simply don’t have the time or the capacity to go deep into every club.
One could create and manage an account for club-specific stats. Just ensure you’re covered legally to use the name of the club, photos etc. You also don’t have to name it OPTA (many reasons here) - check out @StatsCity (a ManCity stats account as an example), and @MrPremiership does amazing work with Stellies stats and information. WARNING: this may be hard work.
Opportunity 2: Women’s football stats
The women’s game has been growing rapidly over the years. A few years from now, there will be more opportunities in the space. Social media data-based content focused on the Hollywood Bets Super League, Banyana Banyana & SA players abroad is an untapped niche. People including us) would be keen to see more women’s football content. Plus, with women’s football, data providers like Statsbomb occasionally share free data to help that side of the game grow.
Opportunity 3: Other local league stats
With Opta Jabu, our focus is mostly PSL-era top-flight football. That’s the data we have available and run queries on. Often, we get asked about stats for the Motsepe Foundation Championship, Varsity football, and the Diski Challenge. While that is part of the long-term goal, it is not something we will look into now (or in the next year). Creating stats-based content around these leagues could be an available opportunity worth considering.
Opportunity 4: Data Collection
Another opportunity is data collection. Companies like SportsRadar and STATS Perform sometimes have openings for data collection at stadiums. These companies power live data to betting companies and apps, and they often need in-stadium personnel to be trained and equipped on data collection. A website like Transfermarkt also has DataScouts, while Marketing & Developer jobs also pop up on these sites - some that are said to be “remote”.
Opportunity 5: Blogs & Threads
There is a lot of focus placed on Chiefs, Pirates, SuperSport & Sundowns. But one can write content on the other 13 clubs in the division. Or the 32 in the PSL. You may not get a lot of eyes when Team 13 plays Team 14 in the league. But when the so-called “Big 4” are playing your team - that’s 8-10 games a season, you can capitalise by having your body of work catch some of the attention these clubs always attract.
By data-based content, we don’t mean Opta-page. Sometimes it’s just sharing tables, fixtures, top-goal scorers, top assisters, venues for games, player birthdays etc. Even the basic history of when a team/league started, and other inner workings count as stats-based content. Like most things, all these will be hard work, and there is no guarantee of succeeding (however you may define that), but an hour or two on a weekend may be a good start to see if there is any traction.
Bonus: Once you’ve chosen a path, one tip is Listen to podcasts that can guide. Starting up, we spent a lot of time listening to Sports Content Strategy, Digital & Social Media Sports, and the Sports Career podcast - some episodes are old but gold.
Cheers!!