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The 2025 edition of the SFS Awards concluded at the OGR in Turin, an event that celebrated excellence in the football industry.

The evening, hosted by Anna Maria Baccaro, was enhanced by the presence of SFS partners. The setting of the OGR made the occasion even more memorable, and the event represented a unique opportunity to highlight the winning synergy between sport, innovation, social impact, and business.

One of the most emotional moments of the Awards was the tribute dedicated to the memory of Emanuela Perinetti, a valued professional and dear friend of the Summit, with the Female Leadership in Football Award named after her, which went to SSC Napoli.

The evening also marked the conclusion of the SFS Extratime startup competition, promoted by SFS with Almaviva, which crowned Wovlabs as the winner. Below is the complete list of all the winners who illuminated the 2025 edition of the SFS Awards.

Claudio Fenucci of Bologna F.C. 1909 was awarded the Top Manager of the Year by Infront prize, while the Premier League won the Leader in Social Responsibility and Impact by AIL award.

Remaining across the Channel, on the communication and fan engagement front, the Best Digital and Social Media Team Club by Social Media Soccer award cemented Liverpool as the undisputed leader in digital strategies. For content creation, Atlético de Madrid took home the Best Content Creator by Regione Puglia award. Demonstrating the strength of targeted initiatives, SSC NAPOLI also won the Campaign of the Year by AWS award.

Marketing and revenue strategies saw world-class clubs and formats take the spotlight. Borussia Dortmund triumphed in the Best Marketing and Sponsor Activation by F5 category, highlighting its communication capabilities during the FIFA Club World Cup, which led to FIFA winning the Best Format and Football Community by GoProject award. BARCELONA F.C. dominated the analysis for the YouGov Football Index Award. The Media / Broadcaster of the Year category saw the success of DAZN.

Innovation was celebrated with the Football Tech Award by Advant assigned to PlayerMaker, an entity that is redefining on-field performance analysis. The intersection between gaming and entertainment was recognized with the Best Football Tech Entertainment Solution by Floky award given to Fantacalcio.

The conclusion of the evening was a moment to celebrate the innovation and commitment of all the players who contribute daily to the growth of the sector.

The 2025 edition of the SFS Awards concluded at the OGR in Turin, an event that celebrated excellence in the football industry. The evening, hosted by Anna Maria Baccaro, was enhanced by the presence of SFS partners. The setting of the OGR made the occasion even more memorable, and the event represented a unique opportunity to highlight the winning synergy between sport, innovation, social impact, and business. One of the most emotional moments of the Awards was the tribute dedicated to the memory

The panel "Is Football Really Prioritizing Players’ Mental Health?", moderated by Riccardo Nasuti (Digital Manager SFS 25), focused on the crucial topic of athlete mental health. The conversation between Juventus goalkeeper Mattia Perin and his personal psychologist, Nicoletta Romanazzi, offered a frank perspective on the internal work required for high performance, highlighting how cultural resistance is finally beginning to fade. The personal story and freedom from external judgments Mattia Perin shared his experience, revealing that he had wanted to quit playing after

The panel “Data Wars: Ownership, Ethics and Monetization in Football” brought together some of the leading figures in digital innovation within the football industry. Speakers included Pierdamiano Tomagra, Head of Digital at Serie A, Raffaele Cerchiaro, Managing Director at Jakala, Andrea Peron, Sales Leader at Adobe Experience Cloud, and Claudia Di Renzi, Head of Accounting, CRM & Loyalty at FIGC. The session was moderated by journalist Giulia Piscina. In modern football, the decisive match is increasingly played off the pitch —

The panel "AI in Sport," moderated by Ivan Ortenzi, shone a spotlight on the dual relationship between technology and the human component in football. On stage, Filippo Rizzante (Reply) and Sergio Gianotti (AWS) dialogued, with a brief online contribution from Mister Mancini, who immediately expressed a clear stance: "AI is very useful, but I still trust my intuition (laughs, Ed.)." The new geography of technology Rizzante framed the technological scenario, noting how leadership, once "US centric" over the last 20 years, is

Not only Italian football: at SFS 25 the focus broadened to the international stage with a session dedicated to the Saudi Pro League, led by Jes Buster Madsen, Director of Football and Data Science for the league. For the past year, Madsen has overseen an ambitious project: building a unified platform capable of collecting and integrating all league data, making it accessible to clubs to better manage their season, performance and strategic planning. “We have the opportunity to create a centralized system,

The panel "Are football infrastructures a real investment?" addressed a crucial question for the future of Italian football: do investments in stadiums and sports centers truly generate value? The answer, which emerged from the discussion among experts from Deloitte and representatives of virtuous clubs like Fiorentina, Cagliari, and Udinese, was unanimous: yes, but only if integrated into a 360-degree business model. Present on stage were: Alessandro Ferrari (Fiorentina), Stefano Melis (Cagliari), Luigi Capitanio (Deloitte), Franco Collavino (Udinese), and the panel

Innovation, engagement, and ROI measurement. These were the keywords of the panel “Beyond the Pitch: Innovation in Sponsorship,” moderated by Chiara Icardi (Sport Mediaset), which brought together industry experts to discuss how football sponsorship is evolving from a mere presence to a genuine communication strategy. On stage were: Michele Ciccarese (Lega Serie A), Nino Ragosta (Fantacalcio), Marco Pellizzoni (YouGov), Francesco Meroni (Mondelez), and Giorgio Cohen Carafa (Iliad). Serie A: from sporting event to digital platform Michele Ciccarese began by clearly defining the

The third panel of the day on the Global Stage focused on the relationship between football, identity and culture, featuring Luca Marocchi, Victoire Cogevina and Bernardo Azevedo, General Manager of Liga Portugal, moderated by Nikita Jayasuriya. The discussion explored the role of football as a builder of identity, both in the men's and women’s game. According to Victoire Cogevina, the social potential of the sport is still evolving: “Only time will tell, but I believe football is a platform for social

SFS 25 hosted a panel focused on the relationship between the Digital Euro and the Football Economy, featuring Luca Felletti, Sales & Marketing Director at Intesa Sanpaolo, Alessandro Giovannini, Digital Euro Project Leader at the ECB, and Gianfranco Previtera, Commercial Director at Almaviva, moderated by Marco Bellinazzo from Il Sole 24 Ore. Giovannini opened the discussion by clearly explaining what the Digital Euro is and why it represents an inevitable transformation in a world where cash usage continues to decline. “The Digital Euro

The panel that opened the Global Stage of the eighth edition of the Social Football Summit featured Ion Vilcu, Director of the Affiliate Members and Public-Private Collaboration Department at UN Tourism, interviewed by Sports Business Growth Advisor Carolina Tha. In his opening remarks, Vilcu explained the reasons behind UN Tourism’s presence at SFS25, starting from a key figure illustrating the growth of sports tourism. “We’re talking about more than 600 million dollars, accounting for 10% of global tourism, with expected growth