Knowledge-sharing in Dublin

UEFA's KISS (Knowledge and Information Sharing Scenario) programme has proved to be a huge benefit to European football since 2005, sharing expertise and know-how among UEFA's member associations.

KISS is designed to nurture solidarity and equality across the European football family, and workshops are staged under the KISS programme on various topics ranging from corporate social responsibility and communications to marketing and legal. National associations and their staff enjoy the benefit of learning the very best practices from their fellow members, other football stakeholders and even from outside football and sport.

Based on feedback from national associations, KISS focused on two key topics recently at a workshop for 20 national associations held in Dublin. The main responsible officials from both the ticketing and marketing domains at national associations spent two days learning how to improve the sales and processing of ticketing to increase attendances, with a particular focus on the European Qualifiers. UEFA invited a number of national associations and external ticketing and marketing experts to present, discuss and plan the future of ticket sales at UEFA's national associations.

Through UEFA's hands-on approach in supporting the national associations, it was recognised that there is a need to develop ticket sales strategies and processes through increased cooperation between the ticketing and marketing areas. The workshop also gave an ideal opportunity for UEFA to present its UEFA EURO 2016 Participating National Association (PNA) Ticketing Programme, and receive feedback as to how the European governing body can improve its services to national associations, to enable delivery of the best EURO tournament possible in two years' time.

The associations present provided crucial feedback, proposing closer cooperation in ensuring a bespoke marketing plan to sell tickets in each country. Feedback was also forthcoming on various ticketing issues that occurred at previous tournaments, to ensure that they are addressed for UEFA EURO 2016.

Among the presentations, the Scottish Football Association (SFA) showed how they have addressed price increases in ticketing and the process of selling tickets to multiple stadiums in the same season. Major League Soccer – the professional soccer league in both the United States and Canada – demonstrated their proactive approach to ticket sales through phone sales staff. The French Football Federation (FFF) showed their online customer services for ticket purchasers – including the opportunity to get a 3D view from the seat that the customer is thinking of purchasing, as well as their plans to offer priority tickets to the French football family. The English Football Association (FA) took the workshop through their fan matchday experience, and highlighted the level of knowledge that they possess on, among other things, their fans' likes and dislikes.

In accordance with the KISS vision, the associations held group discussions to swap ideas and expertise, and put forward proposals and viewpoints to the plenary sessions. Other presentations focused on the growing importance of digital marketing to increase ticket sales, and how to drive ticket sales forward in the future.

The European national associations are greatly appreciative of UEFA's assistance and constant efforts to help them improve their own work and performance. Jacob Lauesen, event manager at the Danish Football Association (DBU), described the Dublin workshop as invaluable, "as it seems that so many of the FAs are facing the same challenge on these matters at the moment".

"I thought the workshop was excellent, and I gained a huge amount of insight in the subject of ticketing," was the viewpoint of Irish Football Association (IFA) ticketing project coordinator Heather Wright. "I now have a world of ideas that hopefully can shape our strategies moving forward." Thanks in part to KISS, the bond of six decades between UEFA and its associations remains as strong as ever.