Football clubs have quietly become data companies, unifying fans and players around a single cloud and analytics backbone. Clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester City or Bayern Munich turn every touchpoint (ticketing, app, stadium, broadcast) into a source of insight, layering their data foundation with AI-driven personalization to fuel engagement through individualized play analytics and drive new monetization opportunities on the way.
GCZ kickstarted its own Digital Transformation journey about a year ago, calling for a review of where it stands, what has been achieved and what is in store for the club in the next 12 months. Leo Lian, Chief Business Officer of GCZ and Marc Petralito, Head of Business Line at ELCA, shared their views on these three points.
ELCA has been GCZ’s Digital Transformation partner since 2025. What was the starting point of this journey?
Marc Petralito: The partnership initially started at the infrastructure level. Through EveryWare, ELCA's managed Cloud and IT infrastructure company, we built GCZ’s required IT backbone to run a mid-sized Swiss organization: network, telephony, and the on-site connectivity meeting the requirements of the very specific camera setups used during training sessions on the campus and training grounds. As a result, GCZ can now fully rely on its IT to run its day-to-day operations.
Was there any improvement made in favor of GCZ fans’ engagement?
Marc Petralito: We have just activated SECUTIX, our in-house ticketing solution, on a very short timeline thanks to the incredible commitment of GCZ team, which also helped secure its smooth running ever since. Ticket sales management is now processed via a state-of-the-art modern platform, giving GCZ easier access to ticketing data. Fans benefit from their own mobile app, enabling them to enter the stadium with a digital ticket. Not only does the app improve their purchase experience, but it gives them the opportunity to securely hand over their tickets to anyone with their phones.
How is the collaboration developing between GCZ and ELCA respective teams?
Leo Lian: For the club, just knowing that ELCA is there with us, enabling our infrastructure and handling our support needs is a tremendous help, such that we can focus on our core business. Our employees are used to working with ELCA’s team, who is gradually getting a deeper understanding of what our needs are every day. It certainly helps to also meet and greet each other every now and then in the stadium, during games.
What are the next priorities for the Club in terms of digital transformation?
Leo Lian: Besides a couple of minor items to close on our IT backbone, we are looking into ways to build out sports use cases, using MS ecosystem, to improve our data handling capacity.
We are also keen to explore how AI can help us become a better club, both on and off the pitch, as for example on customer service front. From a business applications perspective, our journey is still far from complete, but with the successful implementation of solid IT foundations, we are confident and excited to pursue this journey, step by step, to bring our club forward.
