Johan Cruyff Institute online learning manager Lukas Dorda and Asante Kotoko chief executive officer Nana Yaw Amponsah have encouraged Ghanaian and African football properties to harness data and research in their strive to position themselves better in the market and increase revenue.

The two men were speaking at the African Sports Centre’s webinar on “Consumer behaviour, preferences and revenue opportunities”, which sought to further explore findings of the ASC’s annual Ghana Premier League Report.

The GPL Report, last edition published in October 2021, is a business intelligence survey report which provides insights into Interest and Awareness, Patronage and Consumption, Commerce on Ghana’s elite domestic league.  

Also on the webinar round table were ASC Founder and CEO, Prince Narkortu Teye, with StarTimes journalist Philip Sitsofe Atsrim as host.

“In my opinion, it’s impossible for [for smaller leagues] to compete or try to compete with the big [European] leagues: the Premier League, the Italian league, Italian league, Spanish LaLiga and [others] will even grow bigger as league, together with the Bundesliga,” Dorda said at the gathering which brought together football administrators, media and fans alike.

“If I’m the [GPL or] or any of the smaller leagues around the world, what I would try to do is to obtain the data about the fans that are following the league, try to get to know my own fans [but] not to try to sell my league to them as something better than the other leagues they could watch on a weekly basis.”

On his part Amponsah revealed data has become a key part of their decision making at the two-time African champions: “One of the first things that I sought to do with my management was to institute the Fabulous Census Project, and for a year now, together with the National Circles Council, we have been working hard on the FCP which seeks to register Kotoko supporters into a central database.

“It is one of the reasons why the sponsors have bought into our philosophy and they’re coming on board.”

From his experience at his research firm, Teye stated: “There is a little exploitation of data and research. Many people have not come to the realization that sport is a business; and so, with the painstaking effort it takes to maximizing profits as a business in researching your industry, collecting data and being able to make informed decisions, we need that approach as well in sports.”

A full video of the webinar session is available on YouTube.