Nuremberg’s traditional soccer club stays on top of things with SAP Sports One.

In addition to the German Football Association (DFB), TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Philadelphia Union, soccer club 1. FC Nuremburg was the latest team to implement SAP Sports One, in the current season. After the contract signing in December 2015 and the go live shortly thereafter, the traditional club is the first SAP Sports One customer in Germany’s Second Bundesliga.

The decision was made in the fall of last year, when team was still in 10th place in the second league. After the implementation of SAP Business ByDesign, the “Club” – as it is known to its fans – also sought a solution to optimize the workflows of its sports division.

“We’ve had an extreme transformation in the last few years. We had to create sturdy structures in soccer, our key product, preferably with a high-quality IT system,” said Dr. Mario Hamm, Head of Finance and Project Management at 1. FC Nuremberg.

Transparency Thanks to SAP Sports One

In light of these criteria, the decision for SAP Sports One – SAP’s first sports-specific solution that runs on SAP HANA Cloud Platform – was an easy one. Whether match statistics, player fitness data, information about injuries, medication, and recovery, training data, match analyses, and scouting notes — all this different data converges on the cloud-based platform and is immediately accessible to any authorized user. FC Nuremberg now benefits from this data transparency as well. The solution covers all club-relevant functions: team management, training plans, player fitness, performance insights, and scouting.

The project implementation went very quickly. “After an introductory workshop, the medical department began using the system immediately,” explains Achim Ittner, Director Business Development Sports & Entertainment at SAP. The soccer team’s doctor is an important advocate of the platform. Thanks to SAP Sports One, he can communicate quickly and directly with the players and all important club employees. The entire information flow within the team is fully automated – from reports on the players’ treatment status, the corresponding notifications for the coaching team, and even its potential impact on the transfer market.

Well-Equipped for the Future

This is only the first step, according to Hamm. In the coming season and beyond, the club will go live with additional modules. “SAP Sports One gives us all this communication and all this important information to take the next steps we need,” says Hamm.

More information:

• See how 1. FC Nuremberg uses SAP Business ByDesign to identify added value – even in hard times – and use it in real time in our new customer reference video.
• One for all: SAP Sports One launched – SAP unveiled its new SAP Sports One solution at Munich’s Allianz Arena. Soccer clubs will be the first sport to benefit from the cloud solution. But other sports will follow.
• SAP unveils new SAP Sports One solution for soccer
• Get the play-by-play on SAP Sports One An interview with Sebastian Brunnert from SAP’s Sports & Entertainment Team

Photos: Shutterstock and 1. FC Nuremberg