The FA: Transforming the world’s oldest football association
The Football Association of England (known as The FA) is the oldest football association in the world. Formed in 1863, it acts as the governing organization for the country's grassroots club programs up through the national teams, managing 33,000 players worldwide.
“As soon as we implemented Google Workspace, we saw a complete transformation of how people operated and collaborated.” - Nick Sewell, Head of Application Development, The FA
The FA is an iconic British institution responsible for overseeing all aspects of football in the UK, from the grassroots club level across the country to the national teams who play at Wembley.
However, even icons like The FA must evolve to stay at the top of their game, and they realized their old methods of pen and paper needed to change.
So The FA partnered with Google Cloud to transform itself into a digital leader. The first step was to implement Google Workspace to get all 29 professional national teams on the same page.
The result? Breaking down communication silos, driving greater productivity, and enabling seamless collaboration for its coaching, operations, and backroom staff.
Up and running. Fast.
“Google Cloud is helping transform the way we prepare and the way we strategize. Ultimately this will benefit England's pursuit of excellence on and off the pitch.” - Gareth Southgate, England Men’s Manager
For all 350+ staff at St. George’s Park training facility and coaches throughout the country and on the road, Google Workspace provides an intuitive and easy way for all these entities to work together. Nick Sewell, Head of Application Development at The FA, attests this was key in their decision to adopt Google Workspace. After a quick trial run with just a few teams, the full suite was quickly adopted across the entire organization and was soon driving performance and encouraging collaboration like never before possible.
Coaches could communicate through Google Chat; analysts could compile and share data in Sheets; AI training plans could be distributed and executed using Slides; and Drive helped support players on the move, giving immediate access to important information, like dietary requirements, training data, travel docs, and more.
Home of the England DNA
“Google Cloud puts the power of data in play, allowing us to analyze performance across the organization and gain insights that are transforming outcomes on the pitch.” - Craig Donald, Chief Information Officer, The FA
With Google Workspace, The FA has transformed the way it shares data and information. So now, those formations and strategies that once existed only in their coaches’ heads can now be shared with the entire coaching staff across a centralized system.
It’s the perfect home for the England Football DNA—a new library of training plans, insights, and best practices created by and for its coaches. So all its teams, from the senior teams down to the youth club level, can benefit from the collective knowledge. With Google Workspace’s state-of-the-art cloud security, they can be certain that all the confidential information they’ve compiled, from the England Football DNA to performance and medical reports, stays under lock and key.
Insights in an instant
Easy access to key data and ease of communication has elevated The FA’s recent success and helped them drive performance in new ways. With Google Workspace, the entire staff can now access any insights it may need, in real time. This proved to be really helpful for the Lionesses, who received real-time predictions from analysts in Burton-on-Trent while playing in Paris for the 2019 World Cup.
Off the pitch, Google Workspace continues to support the logistical challenges of an elite team on the move, giving instant access to all of its travel documents. Things like medical info, dietary requirements, and more can be accessed anywhere they may be from the cloud.
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