EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
T
he next season of women ’ s football is about to kick off and Arsenal Women is setting itself up for a successful run .
Having actually invested in its women ’ s club , Arsenal Women is currently one of the most successful women ’ s football teams and successfully retains its fan base each year . This 2024 / 2025 season , the team is set to host a record 11 matches at its home ground , Emirates Stadium , with fans already excited about how the team will perform .
As part of this , a lesser-known aspect of Arsenal Women ’ s journey perhaps is its partnership with a leading technology company . ABBYY , specialising in intelligent automation , is the official AI partner for Arsenal Women . First partnering in October 2023 , ABBYY and Arsenal work together to leverage AI to streamline tasks , improve fan experience and set up local community projects focused on technology and AI education .
The partnership also aims to support the sustainable growth of Arsenal Women and women ’ s football more broadly .
As this exciting new football season gets underway , AI Magazine speaks with ABBYY CEO Ulf Persson and Head of AI Strategy Maxime Vermeir about its partnership with Arsenal Women and how the company continues to embrace a new era of AI .
Arsenal Women : Championing women ’ s football with AI Whilst AI has been around for decades , the world finds itself at a crucial moment where we actually have large levels of
“ Arsenal Women is no longer only a football club , it ’ s an enterprise ”
ULF PERSSON CEO , ABBYY
computing power to better leverage the technology . Amongst this , ABBYY finds itself at a pivotal moment in digital transformation . As consumer expectation has evolved , the company has moved more into the forefront within the sporting world , developing AI technology with the goal of improving fan experience .
ABBYY has found a significant growth opportunity within its alliance with Arsenal Women , as company CEO Ulf Persson explains .
“ We felt that women ’ s football was spot on for us . It ’ s a growing sport . It ’ s something that ’ s really forward-looking , it ’ s exploding , it ’ s happening , it ’ s fun . It ’ s a little bit different ,” he explains .
“ Modern football clubs are no longer just football clubs , they are an enterprise . Therefore , they have to be effective in their internal automation processes and consider how to improve fan engagement . For football clubs nowadays , it ’ s no longer just about game day interaction - clubs now interact with their fan bases on a daily basis , so they want to leverage modern technology to do that better .”
aimagazine . com 19